I have 100 or so CPU to send and will soon have ~300 more. About half of them have a bunch of thermal paste on them.

* Do I need to remove that paste? If so, do I need to remove a little, just so the version of the chip is readable? Or do I need to remove every little bit of paste?

You need to remove enough to make sure none of it rubs off on other chips. Especially the contacts.

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Extremely helpful! Thank you.
One more question… I’ve searched, but cannot find a video I think I saw regarding how to pack for testing. Would you happen to have a link did that video?

how to pack for testing

i buy 100 clamshells on ebay for less than 20$ and put one staple in the front edge. i have sent in 200+ and only had one test bad which was probably not a problem with the packing. stack them up in a box separated with a piece of cardboard by type.

Clamshells are a great idea. Packs of 100 or 500 are quite inexpensive, ebay, Amazon, and Microcenter

Most people, rightfully, shoot down my comments on buying cpu trays. But if you have more than 20 CPUs it makes sense.
They run about $1 per tray often hold 10-25 CPUs. You have to pay attention to socket dimensions though.

Also, with trays make sure on ebay you are buying “full” or “uncut” trays there a market for cut trays that reduce the number of sockets for a slightly lower price.no sense to pay $2 for two 25s when you can buy a 50 for $1.75

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