I am not using any top fans, no, only front and back (and bottom if we include PSU fan). Thought the vent on top could also help with airflow though, not sure.

How often is kinda like it depends. But I mean, it can happen, my hands aren’t always perfectly dry, I might even forget to dry them properly. I try to be careful now, but it can happen.

So, like 10-20% of the case is not under, I can’t push it entirely back, but I could push it back some more (and even then, drops of water don’t always fall perfectly vertically, so movement of hand can throw them under the desk anyway).

No cloth mousepad, I don’t even use a mousepad.

I apparently don’t know the difference between IHS and cooler heatsink, no. Looks like, what I meant was IHS.

It’s not as much dropping, as just letting go of it from slightly above, since again the socket was in the way, and well, nothing was fried or bent from this (at least the PC booted up fine), but yes, it’s not exactly ideal.

And yes, I watched the videos, they did not explain properly, someone actually did, there is a gap in the socket, for your finger to fit in, no one mentioned that, this might be the solution.

Glue or suction cup might work, yes (though with glue, I’d be scared of damaging something if the glue for example grabs something wrong too).

Also, someone mentioned about the gaps on the sides of socket for fingers to fit that I did not know, so that might work too.

So getting the CPU out isn’t as much of an issue, as it is getting the CPU out without bending/damaging the pins. I can turn the MB upside down, and get it out, or slowly drag the CPU to the side or like you say, try to put something under it.

I want to be as gentle as possible though.

Ah, I didn’t know this, thank you. I can try from this when I want to remove it and see how it goes.

So the top part, the “heatsink” part, I can grab it by that, but the grip is bad and I can’t take it out (at least not without rapidly grabbing it and pulling it to the side out of the socket), and I don’t want to touch those electronics under it (as shown in your picture).

I can’t really grab it by the sides with fingers, I could perhaps with tweezers, but too afraid those could scratch something in the process.

A small suction cup might work as someone else mentioned though, but don’t have that.

That’s the thing, I have kinda watched videos, but as weird as it sounds, I can’t grab the CPU by the sides. There is no hold on it, the CPU is literally surrounded by the socket.

So I might be missing something, but it’s not these. I built this PC from parts, so I know all these steps.

I would post a picture, but honestly, the PC is built and in the case right now. I might want to swap the motherboard soon though (and last time I tried removing the CPU from this motherboard, I faced this issue and gave up), which is why I am asking.

MSI B650 Gaming Plus WIFI is the motherboard, it sounds weird yes, it sounds like there shouldn’t be something surrounding the CPU, but the CPU literally goes in the “hole” and is surrounded by it.

Yes, my last attempt was before putting the PC together, now I might want to swap the motherboard soon, which is why I want to know how to take the CPU out (cause last time I tried, I faced the issue I described).

Well, I kinda am not trying to take the CPU out right now, but last time I tried I faced this issue (as well as when trying to put in, I just had to sorta drop it from a bit above), and I might want to take it out again soon.

The cooler/heatsink is removed in this case, by heatsink in the OP I mean, the like metal thing on top of CPU, the thing you put thermal paste on, not the actual heatsink you put on the CPU, but the shield thingy attached to the CPU.

Audio from jack appears… to be working fine. Obviously I am just going by ears and some songs playing, so I can’t tell if some minor frequency or noise is present.

Also some people guessed that this might be in the audio area, so only audio might be affected.

So far, I don’t see any issue (audio plays too, though I can’t like tell if some frequency is missing or something, I mean, it sounds fine).

What are the chances if I keep using the PC like, this could damage the other (way more expensive) parts or cause a fire?

I could try to see if someone can repair it, though with how high repair costs can be, I don’t know if it is more affordable + the worry that they didn’t repair it properly. So it might just be better to get another board (which would either way mean, disassembling the whole PC again and rebuilding it). Luckily a motherboard isn’t that expensive compared to the other parts at least.

By causing other problems, what do you mean exactly happened in their cases?

Thanks.

Also updated the post with better quality image and another link added.

So I guess, what this means is having one scrapped off or failing isn’t a big issue (because of built-in redundancy accounting exactly for that)?

It’s like well, here I guess:

https://i.postimg.cc/XJNcnppT/modelblock-gaming-pd.png

You might be able to find a better resolution image of the board if you look, on them, it is written K72 then vertically smaller K2 (the 2 has an underline).

There are so many as you say, so makes me think, there’s enough redundancy to leave it be.