CPUs

( My info is a little sketchy so take it with a grain of salt. )

The pre-yr 2000 processors break down a little more easily.

The post yr 2000 processors like the p-4's & AMD equivalent seem to have a copper heat sink that's held on with some kind of epoxy. It can be difficult to remove the heat sink without damaging/devaluing the processor underneath.

Heat might be the best solution. I've used a heat gun. I've read that they can be baked in an oven at 280 deg for 20 minutes but haven't tried that method.

Best argument i can think of for doing it would be to reduce shipping costs. It would be more cost effective to ship the light,value rich processor and sell the copper or aluminum heat sinks locally.

It's really small potatoes though .... better to turn-n-burn in my opinion. Do the quick disassembly and leave the task of processing to those set up to do it in volume.