How to separate CPU from Heat Sink?

Today I managed to bump the clip holding the CPU heat sink in place. Before I knew it, the heat sink was loose with the CPU attached to it.

I can't reinstall the CPU without removing it from the heat sink, but the two are cemented together right now. Is this where the freezer trick or the use of acetone or rubbing alcohol becomes necessary?

Once I get them apart and clean both surfaces, I have some Arctic Silver 5 that I plan to use.

I hope that chip has an IHS. If not the freezer trick would be better.

You can use a clothes iron without water and heat up the heatsink. This will soften the thermal compound so you can remove the cpu. It's worked for me.

X2s have an IHS yes.

Twisting is a good idea but be careful with the pin array.

yes be very careful with the twisting, once i attempted to remove the heatsink from my phenom processor by the twisting method. let's just say that processor came off with the heatsink destroying the motherboard socket. had to replace the mobo. instead of prying the processor from the heatsink, heat it just like people above me metioned, save yourself the trouble by force removing it.

I do the grain-of-rice-sized dab in the middle and place the heatsink straight down on top of it to squeeze it into a uniform layer - method. It's all personal perference. The two things to not do: too little, too much (squeezing out the sides onto your motherboard). The best way to do it is practice a couple times (cleaning off in between) to see what kind of 'impression' is left on the HS and if the impression appears uniform.

OK, I got the Arctic Silver applied and the computer reassembled.

It's been running for about 15 minutes now. According to PC Wizard, my CPU temp is a steady 50° C.

I have an AMD 5600+ Windsor processor. No overclocking and I'm using the OEM heat sink and fan. Unfortunately, I do not recall what my old temperatures were. Is 50° C acceptable at this point? The instructions say that after the 200-hour break in period, the temperatures may drop 2-5° C.

50 is acceptable if you are sure you installed the heatsink correctly and the fan is blowing in the right direction.
What are the core temperatures?

That is a warm processor and I've never used the stock cooler, but that seems a little high. Is Cool n Quiet on? At idle my FX-60 idles only a little above room temperature and it is an OC'ed 110W processor, so it is definitely a hot processor. It does have some exotic air cooling, though.

Post your idle and loaded (Orthos) temps for Core and CPU, then we can get a better idea of any actions you should take.