Pulled out CPU with heatsink

Question

I am using a AMD Phenom II X4 965. I was replacing the stock heatsink with an aftermark Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 Rev. 2. When I unlatched the stock heatsink and pulled it from the motherboard, the themal paste stayed on the CPU and pulled it out of the socket. I removed the CPU from the heatsink without touching the bottom and meticulously checked the pins for any defects and found none with my naked eye. I cleaned the leftover paste off the top of the CPU and reapplied new paste (with a pea-sized dab in the middle) and attached the new cooler. I am running the CPU now and everything seems to be working fine. My CPU temp in bios was 40 degrees Celcius. Are there any problems I can expect to come up in the near or far future? Is there anything I can do to see if the CPU was damaged in some way? The CPU is new so I am not too familiar with how it should be acting normally.

Answer 1

The CPU is designed to be easily fitted and removed. On most motherboards there's a lever which actually locks it into place.

The fact that the machine booted and appears to be working is a good sign. If you'd done any damage to the pins/connectors it'd be more likely that it wouldn't work at all.

A temperature of 40^oC is about right.