Shipping a Processor

I sold my old processor on Ebay today and will ship it Monday. I do not have a nice little plastic case to put it in. What are some suggestions to properly package the processor because I honestly have no clue.

I have some bubble wrap that has a soft texture on the inside but I just want to make sure that I don't damage it in the shipping process. Thanks for all the help.

I always just slip them into a cut off corner of a mobo bag and tape that to a piece of (sturdy) corrugated cardboard maybe 4x4" then put another piece of cardboard on top and tape the edges together so the whole mess is rigid and the cpu isn't able to slide around. Put that in a padded mailer and you're good to go.

This assumes an LGA processor, I've never shipped one with pins that wasn't in the original package.

I use a small foam square to put the CPU on (if I don't have a clamshell) and wrap it in an antistatic bag and into a small box. Then I put it into one of the small flat rate boxes and pack it full of peanuts/bubblewrap. Had worlked for me.

ratbuddy said:

I always just slip them into a cut off corner of a mobo bag and tape that to a piece of (sturdy) corrugated cardboard maybe 4x4" then put another piece of cardboard on top and tape the edges together so the whole mess is rigid and the cpu isn't able to slide around. Put that in a padded mailer and you're good to go.

This assumes an LGA processor, I've never shipped one with pins that wasn't in the original package.

Click to expand...

That's essentially what I do, except I slap the label right on the cardboard.
So far it's 4/4 for success.

ratbuddy said:

I always just slip them into a cut off corner of a mobo bag and tape that to a piece of (sturdy) corrugated cardboard maybe 4x4" then put another piece of cardboard on top and tape the edges together so the whole mess is rigid and the cpu isn't able to slide around. Put that in a padded mailer and you're good to go.

This assumes an LGA processor, I've never shipped one with pins that wasn't in the original package.

Click to expand...

I am shipping a i7 920 (this is a LGA processor?) and I am going to take your advice. Thank you all for your help because I needed it.

Yup, 920 is LGA, those little pads on the bottom are 'lands' thus Land Grid Array. I guess they're called lands because the CPU socket pins land on them?

1.) Protect the capacitors that in the middle on the bottom, that's ur #1 priority.

2.) Don't have bubble wrap or anything else staticky touching the CPU. That includes plastic grocery bags, zip-lock bags, packing peanuts, Styrofoam, etc...

If you don't have a tray, clamshell or bottom cap, then foam works the best. The heatspreader on the top won't get hurt unless if something catastrophic happens, so just worry about the bottom. You can even rubber band foam to the bottom of it, or tape kinda works.

But if u don't have anything, then just wrapping it over and over again in an anti-static bag will work just fine, as long as there is some bubble wrap on the outside. Insulate that with peanuts, and you'll be good. It takes a lot to damage CPUs,but at the same time being careless can be expensive. Just remember that the CPU will try rolling around in the package, so insulate it well so u can't move, even when the mail man drops the 50lb box I just shipped on top of it.

A great trick i used once for sending a pinned cpu was pushing the pins into a piece of oasis foam (the green moss like foam for plants to be stuck into) you can get it an almost any craft or hobby shop...tape it to the foam and its almost impossible to damage the pins

ratbuddy said:

Yup, 920 is LGA, those little pads on the bottom are 'lands' thus Land Grid Array. I guess they're called lands because the CPU socket pins land on them?

Click to expand...

Not to be a d-bag but I'm pretty sure that on the Intel side the L is for Logorhythmic. PGA (parallel grid array) (ie 478), LGA (logorhythmic grid array) (ie 775 1155 1366). I think Land Grid Array is an AMD term?

I was under the impression that...

PGA = Pin Grid Array
LGA = Land Grid Array

This is why I love Wikipedia.* Land Grid Array.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_grid_array

* Wikipedia search widget on my phone = awesome.

I have literally shipped several THOUSAND processors. I have come to the conclusion they are nearly indestructible if the caps on the bottom are protected from getting broken off.

You might get a whine from the buyer if you don't pack it up all fancy, but you can pretty much ship a LGA CPU in an envelope unprotected with staticky crushed packing peanuts

Over the years I've had a handful of "DOA" claims on eBay but none came back as actually dead. The majority of what I shipped was a small piece of anti-static bag taped around the CPU, wrapped in a 2" wide x 12" long strip of bubble wrap (pre cut packaging I bought by the pound in huge trash bags) inside a cardboard USPS Priority Flat Rate envelope.

Seems minimal but after more carefully packaging he first 200 or so I decided to go the quick n' dirty route and it never came back to bite me.

Theocnoob said:

Not to be a d-bag but I'm pretty sure that on the Intel side the L is for Logorhythmic. PGA (parallel grid array) (ie 478), LGA (logorhythmic grid array) (ie 775 1155 1366). I think Land Grid Array is an AMD term?

Click to expand...

Heh, good one