In the world of DIY PC building, there are some of who just have all the luck in finding one of the best deals on hardware. For one Redditor, they found the deal of the decade when they managed to snag an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X for just US$3 (~RM13). The catch here is that the component had some bent pins, as well as missing a couple of them.
The Redditor, who goes by the handle “bogertonn”, tells the tale of how they came about the damaged 5900X: apparently, they found the high-end Zen 3 CPU being sold as “returned Amazon products” at one of the local stores. Unlike Intel or current Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, Ryzen 5000 Series processors are still PGA-based components, meaning that the pins are attached on the CPU and not the motherboard.
I found a Ryzen 9 5900x for $3 at my local store where they sell returned Amazon items. I bent back the pins and I can’t believe it works with 2 missing VSS pins. It stress tested Prime95 for 5 hours. Is it safe to run this? It only cost me $3 but I would like to use this as my daily driver system.
byu/bogertonn inAmd
As mentioned, the damaged 5900X essentially had several bent pins but was also missing a couple of them. Primarily, the missing pins – had they still been there – would have provided bogertonn access to the Azalia HD audio passthrough. That being said, the missing pins aren’t crucial, and technically speaking, CPUs such as this Ryzen model have hundreds of redundant pins.
So, with a more or less intact 5900X and the majority of its pins still intact, bogertonn went ahead with the very delicate work of straightening out the bent pins on the CPU. It goes without saying that bending the pins back into their original position does require some level of precision; due to their fragility, it is also possible that one could accidentally take them off in the process. Even worse, they could just fail to work or fall off.
In bogertonn’s case, their painstaking patience and delicate restoration resulted in the 5900X successfully working and being recognised by his AM4 motherboard. Honestly, it’s a cause for celebration, not only because they avoided turning the CPU into a fancy keychain, but also because all it cost them was the price of a big bowl of beef noodles and the courage to wing it.
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