did i screw up my cpu?

You most likely damaged it but without having it in my hands I cant tell you exactly. First I would compare how your speeds and temps were before you ripped it out. Also how did the CPU come out if it is in its socket with a retension clip? Another question how did you fix the bent pin what tool did you use?

What did you mean by "a good amount" of thermal paste? To me, that suggests "a lot," which probably means too much. All the paste is meant to do is fill in microscopic cracks and grooves in the mating surfaces, so the thinnest layer possible should be used. In most cases, a rice-grain-sized amount placed in the center of the CPU will be spread out properly by nothing more than the pressure of the cooler when it is mounted.
What cooler did you buy, and is its fan running at a decent speed?

Since your system is running, I doubt the CPU is damaged. There is no Intel-style retention clip on an AM3+ socket.

Everything sounds fine.

The reason the temps are a bit higher is because:

A) You added too much or too little thermal paste
B) The thermal paste has not applied correctly, and has not cured/primed yet (give it 300 hours or so)

Make sure that you use the correct application method for the CPU cooler. If the CPU is running fine overall, the CPU likely had no damage and I would just go through a reinstalling of the cooler/thermal paste.

Hope that helps

If you straightened out the bent pins then theoretically you should be ok if the cpu is booting and working. Exactly how much paste did you use is my question.

I'd recommend pulling the cooler, clean all old paste off the chip and off the cooler as well. Put only about a dot in the center of your chip no, spread it out with your finger or a credit card. I prefer my finger honestly, and just make sure you have a thin layer over the whole chip, you don't want to dump a whole tube of paste on the chip. Remount the cooler nice and tight. The idea of thermal paste is just to fill the grooves between the chip surface and heatisnk surface. If you use too much paste, you'll slowly bake the chip.

I suppose it's possible you messed up the chip, but if you are gaming on it and it boots and works, I'd say it's probably ok. Once you get it back together, download hwmonitor, watch your temps with that, then download intel burn test, which is basically a torture test for cpu's. Run Intel Burn test for at least 5 passes maybe even 10 I'd say, idea is basically to kill the cpu if it's going to go out. I use that when I'm overclocking to test stability. Your chip will heat up VERY quickly, so if you see temps going up, don't be alarmed, just watch them.

What is airflow like in your tower? May want to add fans for exhaust also. Maybe make sure in the bios that the system is not turning the fan down, basically make the CPU fan run full speed all the time. Also, keep in mind when you repaste, sometimes new paste will take a while to bake in so you may see temps drop a bit over a few days.

Last thing, another guy taught me, before you pull a cpu heatsink, turn the system on, run it for 5 minutes or so just to let things get heated up a bit. Then shut down, and pull it before it cools too much. Running the system a little should heat the old paste and soften it a little. Also, when you pull the cooler, I've learned to twist the cooler back and forth a little while it's still on the cpu in order to try to break it loose a little from the paste holding it to the CPU. Doing these things should lessen the force you need. If in doubt, just remember pull straight up so you don't bend pins. I accidentally messed up a CPU once by pulling sideways. Expensive lesson, thankfully it was only about 60 bucks, but at the time I didn't have much money so you can imagine how unhappy my house was.

The only thing that I can think of that you could have screwed up is the thermal paste under the lid of the CPU die itself, the interface between the CPU die and the spreader (under the CPU top.). You may have broken the seal or whatever in there with all that pulling.

I would just look up the correct thermal paste application methods for 8-core AMD CPUs, and do everything right, and double check everything. Use it for a couple of days to let the paste settle, and then come back here and tell us the results.

Yeah, that can definitely limit the airflow.

What size is your motherboard? (ATX, micro-ATX, etc.?) A new case can run you only like $40, and your computer can have better airflow, much better USB ports and other connections, along with hugely improved appearance.

This case is optimized for High AirFlow (HAF)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $44.00


Or this, on the cheaper side:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Case: Cougar Solution (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $34.99

But the case is not causing the higher temps obviously, because it was in the same case before with the stock cooler. But a new case is highly recommended, and will help your temps.

Keep us updated!

I doubt that it happened. Run a stress test, like Prime95. I am interested to see the temperatures when you open that.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205