Does it move?

Yes - is it supposed to?
No, Use WD-40
Yes, Your done.
No - Is it supposed to?
No, Your done.
Yes, Use Duct/Duck Tape.

I hate those slot 1 retention brackets. I just remove them and plug the cpu into the slot without them. It's tight enough to stay in place, and especially if you swap cpus a lot, it's very convenient. Never had an issue doing this. I suppose if you bump the case hard and it falls on its side, the cpu could come loose while the system is on, but you'll probably have other issues to contend with, like damage to hdd. 🤣.

clueless1 wrote:

I hate those slot 1 retention brackets.

Same for me. I just seem to be incapable of removing the processor without breaking those things 😢

To the OP: it looks like the little black tabs "secure" the top of the processor. So at a first glance I would say that you have to press on both sides away from the CPU so you can pull it out of the slot. Easier said than done though...

All the Slot 1 CPUs I've dealt with are a bit different from those, since the processor is inside a "cartridge" that has little tabs on the top which lock against the retention brackets but can be retracted in order to remove it.

If worst comes to worst, you "could" unscrew the slot 1 retention mechanism and then take both of them out at the same time?

But so far I've always managed to remove the CPU, sometimes bending the 2 retention thingies outward is enough.

I personally don't prefer to leave the retention mechanism out completely while running the system, but I never actually tried running a system without the retention mechanism. But it might help prevent the CPU from wiggling out when moving the system around after which I try to apply power to it.

Iirc there were several different kinds of retention mechanisms and some were sorta universal...but I always just mixed and matched till it fit 🤣

I always remove these brackets from my Slot 1 boards 😊

But mostly because I don't have permanent builds, always swap out parts.

If you just want to get the CPU out just keep pulling - it might be jammed in at the bottom especially if it's been sitting there for a decade. Maybe wiggle it a bit, and work on one side at a time. All you need to do is what you've tried, pulling the black tabs at the top aside, it's not held in by anything else.

If you want to take the whole retention mechanism off, the locking pins at the bottom of the CPU (the big white plastic pins) have to be pulled up, and then the black plastic tabs poked through underneath the board.

When stored I do tend to remove them if they take up too much space (which is almost always 🤣), but luckily some can be folded inward.
I do tend to keep stuff that I took off of any particular motherboard with the motherboard itself (like I/O plates and the cables that come with AT boards) in the same package.