Decasing the AMD Athlon Processor

If you have ever wanted to open up your AMD Athlon processor to resolder it, add an a golden fingers card or just even take a gander at what the innards of the Athlon looks like, here's how to do it.
 

Tools That You Need
A very small flat-head screw-driver Needle-nose pliers
Decasing the Athlon
Step 1 Spirtitual Consultation	Pray that you don't break it.
Step 2 Grounding	Ground yourself to prevent any static electricity from frying your expensive Athlon. We all know about static electricity--its harmless to us when we shock are friends; we snicker about how much lint and plastic bags stick to us when we've been sitting on the rug for too long; we hate it when our clothes stick to us when we don't use fabric softener when we washed are clothes--but it's a different story for electronics--it's lethal to them. One small electric discharge from your fingers can permanently render your Athlon inoperable. And since AMD offeres to warranty on decased processors, you are going to have to dig up the cash to fund the purchase of another if your processor dies by the almighty god of static electricity.
Step 3 Locating the Break Points to Force the Casing Open	To remove the Athlon's casing you need to insert the head of the screw-driver at the four areas designated by the red circles.
Step 4 Remove the Casing	At each designated point, make a 90 degree turn--this will force the case to slightly bend a little and cause one of the four inner pins on the case to break their seal. You will hear a very small snapping noise when the pin dislodges from the case. Repeat this step three or four times to completely remove the case.  But if your Athlon was anything like mine, there will be one pin that is completely stubborn and will not yield to your screwdriver. If you find such a pin, you will have to open your case like you would a book. (See image below). You will have to pull very hard on the case to make the final pin snap--and when it does, it'll make a very large snap. But don't worry, you're case will still be OK if you wish to reassemble it again later. When prying the case open, be very careful to not damage the PCB of the Athlon!
Step 5 Grounding	See Step 2.
Step 6 Removing the PCB from the Heat-Plate	Assuming you didn't destroy your CPU, you should have something similar to this: Now this is where it get's tricky--this is the most difficult and dangerous aspect of decasing your Athlon. If you are not extremely careful, you can easily destroy your processor within a heartbeat. Pick one of the ends of the two rention clips that hold the Athlon to the Heat-Plate. Carefully work your screw driver under the clips as shown below. Bend the clips up and down while you wriggle the them free of the pins that they cling to. Be extremely gentle while slightly bending the clips. You don't want to lose your grip on the pliers and knock off an SMD or a capacitor--if you do that, your Athlon is toast.  Another thing to do is if you are planning to put your Athlon back in it's case, be sure that you don't bend them too much that you'll never get them back onto the pins. Mine were pretty gnarled and twisted when I got mine off--but I wasn't ever planning on putting my case back on.
Step 7 Go Slowly	Take your time while removing the clips--they are very difficult to remove, but it's better to take ten minutes to get them off and still have a functional chip than to rush it in two minutes and lose an SMD or two.
Step 8 The Final Step	Now if you've done it correctly, this is what you should have.
Step 9 Spiritual Consultation	Pray that it still works. Some chips may look OK, but they make not work. But if you've followed the directions very carefully, you should be fine.