I'm trying to remove an ASUS Radeon RX 9070 XT from an ASUS X870E motherboard with EZ Latch Plus. I removed the rear screws, but the graphics card is still firmly seated. The square release button was initially stuck and now moves, and I can sometimes see part of the mechanism moving underneath the card, but the GPU does not pop free. Pulling it out at an angle only moves it a few millimeters, so I pushed it back in because I'm worried about damaging an expensive card or the motherboard. How much force is safe, and are there any other clips or attachments I need to release?
2 Answers
The problem was the EZ Latch not retracting completely. After pressing the release button, I carefully reached under the card and pushed the remaining latch down with half of a wooden chopstick. A whole chopstick was too thick. Once the latch was fully depressed, the graphics card came out normally. Be extremely gentle and avoid using metal tools or twisting the card.
Check the exact motherboard manual and its PCIe-release instructions before forcing anything. The latch may be moving without fully clearing the GPU’s retention notch, especially if the card is covering the mechanism. Keep the card level, support its weight, and make sure all rear screws and power cables are disconnected.
The official removal demonstration makes it look effortless, but in this case the button did not retract the latch far enough. The actual metal latch was almost impossible to reach beneath the card.