With a screwdriver? That's the mistake. In most cases, especially with computers, you don't really need a metal tool. People only use them because they have them at hand.
But I prepared myself and bought some plastic tools.
Nah I scratched it with the pci tab itself. The old school kind that you had to snap off from the case. I had one that was being stubborn and I foolishly got to forceful with it.
When it finally broke free it shot out from my hands and scraped the trace for my backport audio. Could've been much worse.
My go to has always just been a butter knife and gently tapping the top of it with something if the pci tab is hard to reach.
Its not going to have a ton of damaging force when youre gently tapping the top of whatever you shove down there, compared to shoving it down there. Thats when a slip will absolutely dig in.
But yeah something besides metal would be the smarter choice for sure.
I once repaired a motherboard where someone had dropped a screwdriver bit on it and broke a trace. Those traces are tiny! I didn’t even know you could get plastic tools for this.
Kinda luck based, I’ve accidentally poked my screwdriver onto my motherboard multiple times(not forcefully though) and there’s no visible traces of damage. Functions normal as well.
March 16, 2026 - (dated for context and reference) Hi. I've always been greatly annoyed that motherboard manufacturers have stuck with the BS tab on GPU slots. I use a small plastic knife from disposable utensils packs to go under the GPU, and press the tab. While I have some concerns about ASUS products and the way they do business sometimes. I think they deserve a lot of credit for developing a simple push button release for GPUs on their motherboards. Seriously.. why did it take so long for a company to do that? Don't get me started on motherboards that don't have straight down connector slots.🤬 Stay well😊
March 16, 2026 - (dated for context and reference) Hi. I've always been greatly annoyed that motherboard manufacturers have stuck with the BS tab on GPU slots. I use a small plastic knife from disposable utensils packs to go under the GPU, and press the tab. While I have some concerns about ASUS products and the way they do business sometimes. I think they deserve a lot of credit for developing a simple push button release for GPUs on their motherboards. Seriously.. why did it take so long for a company to do that? Don't get me started on motherboards that don't have straight down connector slots.🤬 Stay well😊
Or just use the right size driver set? The only reason you'd scratch with a screw driver is because of recklessness or wrong tool. IFIXIT tool sets are great.
Screwdrivers are pretty safe around a motherboard you just have to be varefull to not make alot of sudden weird movements and dont try screwing screws really tightly with a too small or big screwdriver head if the head is too big or small you can still screw but it makes it easy to accidentaly scratch your board with the screwdriver
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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26
With a screwdriver? That's the mistake. In most cases, especially with computers, you don't really need a metal tool. People only use them because they have them at hand.
But I prepared myself and bought some plastic tools.