The tools and supplies our guides call for, grouped by job. Each pick was chosen from its specifications and from published reviews, not from our own testing, and only listings rated well by buyers make the bin. Check the socket list and dimensions against your own hardware before you order.
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Bench basics The small things that make every job safer: a strap and mat for static, drivers that fit, tweezers and a light to see what you are doing. Read: Anti-static basics for home builders
ESD iFixit anti-static wrist strap
Adjustable band and a clip lead for bare chassis metal while you handle chips and boards.
Grab it on Amazon ESD iFixit portable anti-static mat
A grounded work surface with its own strap and cord, sized for a board and a few loose parts.
Grab it on Amazon Tools iFixit Mako 64-bit precision driver kit
Small Phillips, Torx and hex bits for laptops, coolers and cases in one magnetic handle.
Grab it on Amazon Tools iFixit precision tweezers set
Fine, angled and blunt tips for lifting socket-tab debris and small screws.
Grab it on Amazon Socket mods and delidding For the LGA 771 sticker mod and for delidding paste-filled Intel chips: a sharp blade for the socket tabs and a purpose-made delid tool. Read: LGA 771 mod, step by step , How to delid an Intel CPU .
Socket mod X-Acto #1 precision knife
A thin, replaceable blade for trimming the two plastic key tabs flush with the socket wall.
Grab it on Amazon Tools iFixit precision tweezers set
Fine, angled and blunt tips for lifting socket-tab debris and small screws.
Grab it on Amazon Inspect Lighted handheld magnifier
Bright light and magnification to inspect socket contacts and SMD parts before you power on.
Grab it on Amazon Thermal paste, pads and liquid metal Cleanup first, then a compound that suits the job: everyday paste for most builds, liquid metal only under an IHS or on copper with the edges masked. Read: Repasting a CPU step by step , Liquid metal vs thermal paste .
Cleanup Amazon Basics 99% isopropyl alcohol
High-purity alcohol that dissolves old paste and dries without residue.
Grab it on Amazon Cleanup Kimtech Kimwipes delicate task wipers
Low-lint wipes for cleaning a heat spreader and cooler base.
Grab it on Amazon TIM ARCTIC MX-4 thermal paste (4 g)
Non-conductive, easy to spread and fine for almost any CPU or old-board repaste.
Grab it on Amazon TIM Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (1 g)
A high-performance non-conductive paste for overclocked or tightly cooled chips.
Grab it on Amazon Coolers Check the socket list before anything else: many current coolers no longer ship LGA 775 hardware, so an old board may need the maker's legacy bracket or a cooler that still lists the socket. Read: Sizing a cooler by TDP , Cooler TDP headroom check .
Cooler Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
A dual-tower air cooler for current Intel and AMD sockets.
Grab it on Amazon Cooler ARCTIC Freezer 36
A single-tower cooler with two fans for mid-size cases and current sockets.
Grab it on Amazon Low profile Noctua NH-L9i low-profile cooler
A short top-down cooler for small cases; check the socket list for your board.
Grab it on Amazon BIOS and firmware A small stick for flash tools, a coin cell for a tired CMOS, and an SPI programmer for the day a flash goes wrong. Read: Reading a BIOS chip with a CH341A , LGA 771 Xeon microcode .
Boot SanDisk Ultra 32 GB USB 3.0 flash drive
A small stick for FreeDOS, flash utilities and BIOS images.
Grab it on Amazon SPI flash CH341A programmer kit with SOIC8 clip and 1.8 V adapter
Reads and writes 25-series SPI BIOS chips; check the 5 V signal-level issue first.
Grab it on Amazon CMOS Energizer CR2032 coin cells (4 pack)
The CMOS battery most boards use; keep spares away from children.
Grab it on Amazon Storage upgrades for old desktops A SATA SSD is the single biggest lift for an LGA 775 machine; a bracket and a cable finish the job. Read: The SATA SSD upgrade for old desktops
SATA Samsung 870 EVO 500 GB SATA SSD
A 2.5 inch SATA drive that turns an old desktop's boot and load times around, even on 3 Gb/s ports.
Grab it on Amazon Clone Macrium Reflect X Home (disk imaging and cloning)
Clones an old hard drive to a new SSD and keeps image backups; paid software for Windows.
Order from Macrium Software Mount Sabrent 2.5 to 3.5 inch drive bracket
Mounts a 2.5 inch SSD in an old case with only 3.5 inch bays.
Grab it on Amazon SATA Cable Matters straight SATA III cables (3 pack)
Fresh data cables for a new SSD or a drive swap.
Grab it on Amazon Books for the web design lessons Printed companions to the CSS and JavaScript lessons, for readers who like paper next to the keyboard. Read: CSS tutorial , JavaScript tutorial .
Book HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites (Jon Duckett)
A visual, page-by-page companion to the CSS lessons.
Grab it on Amazon Book Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd edition (Marijn Haverbeke)
A thorough introduction for readers who want depth after the basics.
Grab it on Amazon