I dropped my CPU on the floor

[tomi19]

I wanted to change the thermal paste on my Phenom II X4 955 BE but when I was trying to take the heatsink off, the cpu was glued onto it, so i got the CPU and the heatsink without even unlocking the socket.

I tried to detach the CPU from the heatsking by applying heat with a hairdryer, then I twisted the CPU, it came out but it fell from my hand to the ground from about 2.5 feet. I quickly picked it up and to my surprise only 5~ pins were slightly bent.

I slowly straightened the pins with a credit card, put everything back in and the PC works fine now.

My question is: even though my PC is working fine now, should I be worried about something? Could the CPU be damaged but I don't notice it? May sound like a stupid question, but can performance be affected by the fact that I dropped it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[DarkSable]

No, its performance won't be affected by a three foot fall, that's nothing. What you SHOULD be worried about is the fact that you ripped the CPU out of its socket without even being able to undo the retaining mechanism. That could have done serious damage to the motherboard... the PC is working fine, so you have nothing to worry about, but... the things you're worried about vs what you aren't are kinda bent. 😛

 

[ShadyHamster]

I've removed cpus from sockets countless times when trying to remove cpu coolers, it has never had any effect on the cpu.
There is the potential to pull pins out removing the cpu this way, i would really try and avoid doing this in the future as bending the pins may have weakened them.
For next time, run a stress test such as prime95 to heat up the cpu and cooler to make it easier to remove the cooler without ripping out the cpu along with it.

 

[Christopher Burke]

Just don't rule out this action if your system starts acting funny. With that I mean, if you system starts doing funny stuff like it got a virus and you have done everything to get rid of it to include formatting the Hd, and it still is funny. Im not going to ask why you felt or needed to change the thermal past.

 

[DarkSable]

I've removed cpus from sockets countless times when trying to remove cpu coolers, it has never had any effect on the cpu.
There is the potential to pull pins out removing the cpu this way, i would really try and avoid doing this in the future as bending the pins may have weakened them.
For next time, run a stress test such as prime95 to heat up the cpu and cooler to make it easier to remove the cooler without ripping out the cpu along with it.

...what in the world are you guys using as thermal paste, superglue?

That should never, ever happen unless you're using a cruddy paste that dries up and turns to cement after a few years.

 

[tomi19]

It was the stock thermal paste that comes with the Phenom. Yeah yeah, don't hate me for it, life is hard in this country.

 

[ShadyHamster]

I've removed cpus from sockets countless times when trying to remove cpu coolers, it has never had any effect on the cpu.
There is the potential to pull pins out removing the cpu this way, i would really try and avoid doing this in the future as bending the pins may have weakened them.
For next time, run a stress test such as prime95 to heat up the cpu and cooler to make it easier to remove the cooler without ripping out the cpu along with it.

...what in the world are you guys using as thermal paste, superglue?

That should never, ever happen unless you're using a cruddy paste that dries up and turns to cement after a few years.

Back when it was happening to me i was using arctic silver 5, that stuff does set like cement if its at ambient temp, at least it did for me lol.

 

[Taranjeet22]

Don't be too overvelmed your cpu might work but your CPUs life span has decerced, about 6 or 7 months to be exact

 

[Harshil34]

Hey is your cpu working fine?