HP Smart Socket Removal?

[mattlach]

So,

I got a pretty good deal on a couple of Xeon E5-2650v2's on eBay.

I guess I didn't study the listing closely enough, but they came with some sort of blue plastic bracket attached (glued?) to them.

A little googling suggests this is called a HP Smart Socket.

Anyone know if they are difficult to remove from the CPU's?





I suspect I might just be able to heat them up with a hair dryer or something, and then carefully pry them off, but I don't want to break anything.

Does anyone have any experience with these things, specifically removing them?

Much obliged.

 

[onsit]

Just rip it off with your hands, it's cheap glue/double sided adhesive. I didn't even realize this is a smart socket - I figured it was just some kind of protective corner guard when I got second hand CPUs. No wonder it took a bit of plastic pry tools to pop off.

 

[Syr]

You can just hold the center of the CPU's IHS down with your thumb and use your other hand to pull up on the 'handle' tab to peel it away. The adhesive isnt unreasonably strong and I've never had it damage the CPU itself.

 

[Markess]

You can just hold the center of the CPU's IHS down with your thumb and use your other hand to pull up on the 'handle' tab to peel it away. The adhesive isnt unreasonably strong and I've never had it damage the CPU itself.

Yes, this. Go slow. Work your way around the CPU if it doesn't lift evenly from side to side when it initially starts to lift free. Use steady pressure. Works like a charm.

 

[Evan]

I think the adhesive is also degraded by heat, some CPU’s I have pulled for replacement didn’t seem like they had any. Anyway it comes off as other have said reasonably easily.

 

[mattlach]

Just rip it off with your hands, it's cheap glue/double sided adhesive. I didn't even realize this is a smart socket - I figured it was just some kind of protective corner guard when I got second hand CPUs. No wonder it took a bit of plastic pry tools to pop off.

You can just hold the center of the CPU's IHS down with your thumb and use your other hand to pull up on the 'handle' tab to peel it away. The adhesive isnt unreasonably strong and I've never had it damage the CPU itself.

Yes, this. Go slow. Work your way around the CPU if it doesn't lift evenly from side to side when it initially starts to lift free. Use steady pressure. Works like a charm.

I think the adhesive is also degraded by heat, some CPU’s I have pulled for replacement didn’t seem like they had any. Anyway it comes off as other have said reasonably easily.

Thank you all!

I did as recommended, just pulled it off carefully. There was definitely adhesive left, but it wasnt too difficult.

I don't know what adhesive they used though, as I tried to wipe it off with a few different things without success. This ALMOST resulted in disaster, as the adhesive is very tacky, it got stuck on one of my fingers while installing into the motherboard. Almost dropped the damned thing into the socket...

I liked it better when CPU's had rigid pins!

Luckily it just barely missed!

I'm liking my new (to me) server build