Get a one of those small cardboard boxes with antistatic foam inside:
https://www1.elfa.se/data1/wwwroot/assets/lar … /8012809-01.jpg

And where would you get those?

There's really no need to go to any great lengths... processors aren't particularly fragile. Really what you want is some sort of stiff foam that you can press the pins into to keep them from getting bent, then throw the thing in an antistatic bag. You can even forgo a box, just tape the bag in between two pieces of reasonably stiff cardboard and then put it in a padded envelope.

Ideally you should use antistatic foam, which is usually pink... if you don't have any, just about any computer shop or other place that deals with processors and/or ICs will have something of the sort laying around. In practice, though, really any sort of foam will probably be OK... I've received plenty of chips that were just pressed into a block of regular styrofoam, and I never had a problem with any of 'em.

But doesn't styrofoam hold a charge pretty well? Bits of styrofoam certainly have a goodly amount of static cling, at least.

Like I said, ideally you would use something intended for the task. I'd recommend looking for some other material first... even foam rubber would be better (and actually, that's what some newer CPUs ship with, it's some sort of really stiff, closed-cell black stuff).

But if you can't find anything better, I haven't personally encountered any static damage to chips packed in styrofoam... the antistatic bag probably helps with that to a certain extent too.

I use the anti-static pink styrofoam that motherboards tend to be shipped in. hasn't failed me yet, even with those tiny hair-like pins on P4 processors.

I've heard that you can wrap styrofoam in aluminium foil and press the CPU pins into the foam through the foil, would this be a better idea?

By using a conductive material like that, all the pins would be kept at the same voltage potential, thereby preventing any electricity (static in this case) from flowing through the chip. So in that respect, yes it would be a better idea, and it would probably work pretty well for older processors with large-ish, widely spaced pins... like 286/386/486, Socket 7, and probably S370 and Socket A.

However, it is not quite such a good idea for S478, 939, AM2, etc., or any other modern-ish CPU with a large number of small, closely spaced pins. You do not want to sit there having to pick little torn-off bits of perforated foil out from between the pins. Ask me how I know.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

By using a conductive material like that, all the pins would be kept at the same voltage potential, thereby preventing any electricity (static in this case) from flowing through the chip. So in that respect, yes it would be a better idea, and it would probably work pretty well for older processors with large-ish, widely spaced pins... like 286/386/486, Socket 7, and probably S370 and Socket A.

However, it is not quite such a good idea for S478, 939, AM2, etc., or any other modern-ish CPU with a large number of small, closely spaced pins. You do not want to sit there having to pick little torn-off bits of perforated foil out from between the pins. Ask me how I know.

HOW DO YOU KNOW?