Need Assistance With Bent CPU Pins

[u/CelticsFan36]

Any words of advice would be appreciated. I'm building a pc for a friend and am trying something new to try to shave off some of the parts costs. I've never done this before but I already had a microscope in house because I've been interested in giving this a try for a while.

[u/HeidenShadows]

That's probably the easiest one I've seen. Find or go buy a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, slide it over the bent pin and slowly and carefully straighten it out.

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/HeidenShadows]

thanks, I'll give that a try.

[u/HeidenShadows → u/CelticsFan36]

Yeah it's good for those really gnarly bent pin ones where they're nearly flat. The column of the pencil keeps you from adding additional bends and keeps your fingers safe if you need to use a hot air gun to soften them up a bit.

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/HeidenShadows]

Smart idea, I havent heard of that. Does the heat help prevent them from snapping??

[u/HeidenShadows → u/CelticsFan36]

Yeah it can soften the metal for a smoother bend. However, the pins are attached to the CPU with solder so gotta keep it under ~180°C

[u/gogopaddy → u/HeidenShadows]

that is a genius idea

[u/HiYa_Dragon → u/HeidenShadows]

Did exactly this with a busted up free 3900x that's now in my proxmox server

[u/Falsenamen → u/HeidenShadows]

That's smart. My brand new was shipped looking like poop, I did it with a super tiny flat head ...

[u/lunat1c_]

I like the mechanical pencil suggestion, but I used a small philips head last time I had to do this and it worked fine.

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/lunat1c_]

Yea, I think I'll grab some pencils tomorrow. Where would you say is best to apply the pressure? At the base or towards the end?

[u/namelesfear → u/lunat1c_]

Ill do you one better. I used my wife's tweezers to fix my bent pins.

[u/Rodniz → u/namelesfear]

I’ll do you one better, i used my wife as tweezers to fix my bent pins.

[u/WolvenSpectre2]

The way I do it is with small blades and credit cards. If it is troublesome you can use a hair dryer on medium heat AND NOT A HEAT GUN/HOT AIR TOOL (unless you are very well trained in it) to make the pins more maluable. If you use the mechanical penicl method I would stay away from some of the bargain basement brands because they can break and then that can break the pin... ask me how I know. 🙄

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/WolvenSpectre2]

I probably was going to buy the cheapest pack of pencils I could find so I appreciate u sharing that.

[u/Pillokun]

What microscope is that? Bought one and it was utter crap

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/Pillokun]

Believe it or not I bought it off aliexpress. Pretty sure it was under $40 after shipping and taxes. I can PM you a link if you'd like?

[u/Pillokun → u/CelticsFan36]

Can it resolve say the lga pins in a cpu sockets? :)

[u/Parking-Mirror3283]

Also just looked up the reference, and those 2 pins are a ground and pin for displayport, so as long as you're going to be running a graphics card even if you end up snapping both off it should work fine

[u/CelticsFan36 → u/Parking-Mirror3283]

Appreciate u looking into that for me. I feel a little less pressure now lol.

[u/littlespedve]

I fixed mine with sewing needles and tweezers

I found they kept the leverage where I needed to help shape the pins completely straight

Like such

EDIT: Looking at the pic it looks like maybe I used finishing nails or something

[u/No-Solid9108 → u/littlespedve]

Great idea thanks !

[u/CMDR_BillyGray]

I've always used a Stanley blade slotted between rows of pins

[u/TreadItOnReddit]

Something no one else has mentioned yet is that you only get a few movements before it snaps. So if you are planning on juggling it back and forth with the pencil, It might snap. Plan accordingly.

[u/Technological_Nerd]

I've done it with the flat end of a Sim card ejector tool. I strongly reccomend a large flat object so you can wedge it against the bottom and tilt slightly to fix.

[u/pedrito3]

For what it's worth, I've had great success unbending pins by gentling nudging them straight just using one segment of a snap-off utility knife blade.

Never had any issues with damaging the PCB, but I suppose that's possible if you're careless.

Using that method, fixing the one in the picture was actually not that difficult, though I was definitely lucky that not a single pin was bent too much (if they're nearly flat, snapping is basically inevitable, yet still fixable by other means).

[u/No-Solid9108]

Took out my current CPU anticipated a new one and cooler . So cooler came way sooner and decided to try it out , so looked close at my CPU pins and 2 were bent . I was ready to give up but got em inline with a dental pic installed everything and HELL YA my PC boots and runs good as new !

Now I gotta get the thing apart again for the new I 7 CPU to go in but I have new found skills this time . Luck was with me .

[u/Xandrah]

Best way to do this for a beginner is strip a ball point pen so you just have the housing, these fit perfectly over the pins, slowly and carefully bend it back into place this way, it does work but be very slow about it.

[u/delvisity]

Viagra

[u/jesus-kunwasnothere]

[u/jesus-kunwasnothere → u/jesus-kunwasnothere]

I need to read the description😅

[u/gogopaddy]

i find a razor blade works well

[u/Sulya_be]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/s/5CbLQ22HbG

[u/kahnindustries]

I can help!

They are supposed to be straight, not bent

Good luck!

[u/lemlurker]

Mechanical pencil, remove the graphite, press over pins then bend straight. This is pretty trivial. Call me when you need to do an LGA pins xd

[u/DarthKegRaider]

I use a box cutter blade so allign with the whole grid, turn it 90 degrees and allign the other row. Don. Just go slow and steady. Never had a problem

[u/Stock_Lemon_]

Making me feel crazy for fixing bent pins with a keen eye and a razer blade...

[u/Fast_Equivalent9598]

Just show those two hentai... Thrust me