Argghh, bent CPU pins on 3900x

[VincentHanna]

In 20+ years of building PCs I've never damaged a CPU

I was giving my nephew my 3900x and took it out of my motherboard, cleaned it up etc and located it in his new Asus Tuf gaming plus WiFi motherboard

I thought I'd use the wrath cooler that came with it, but the thermal paste that comes pre-applied is so sticky (like glue) that even though the CPU was locked in place, when I was attempting to seat the heatsink/fan its yanked the CPU out of the socket and bent about 20 pins in the process!

What are my options here?

 

[VincentHanna]

I think it's totally ******.

I can't believe how tacky that pre-applied stuff is.

 

[VincentHanna]

RMA? Its over a year old though.

 

[VincentHanna]

Is it a tray CPU? If so the warranty is one year with place of purchase. If it’s a retail CPU it’s three years with AMD.

Retail

 

[VincentHanna]

so you pulled the CPU out of the socket at the same time as trying to take the heatsink off it? does your motherboard still work?

woaza. did you try twisting and wiggling it before you went full force pulling it off?

no way AMD will RMA that for you. best bet is to patiently bend pins back and hope you dont break any.

lesson learnt hardway!

No, I was trying to install the heatsink on it!

 

[VincentHanna]

I am guessing he forget to pull the lever down to lock the cpu and through brute force the cpu came off the socket.

No, it was locked in

I was installing the wrath cooler and it needed slight re-adjustment and when I pulled it back, the pre-installed thermal paste/grease on the bottom of the wrath heatsink was like glue and yanked the CPU out.

The locking pin on the motherboard is still down even though the CPU came out

 

[VincentHanna]

I do understand that, but really that's generally what I do when removing a CPU that's been installed a while (I successfully removed it from my motherboard with no issues)

I just didn't realise it would stick like that so quickly when installing it over the top in the new motherboard - This was the Wrath cooler from the AMD box that had never been used before.

 

[VincentHanna]

Well the good news is the motherboard is fine.

I managed to get a 3800XT and used a Noctua D15 cooler and that all works.

I'll see if I can return the 3900x for RMA as suggested.

 

[VincentHanna]

I was just moving it slightly out to reposition it, so like you, I didn't use much force at all.

 

[VincentHanna]

I'll upload a photo tonight

I think it's more than 20....

 

[VincentHanna]

Sorry, couldn't last night. Will do it today!

 

[VincentHanna]

I've got to walk the dog and then I will do it, around 10-10:30

 

[VincentHanna]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AGUffnB9Bn2k0nWT_fLv4IBeAuaKf1JM?usp=sharing

Spoiler: Horror show