Possible CPU Issue?

I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment.  

I recently migrated to a new motherboard ( ASUS M4A785-M ) because of its good performance/price and broad range of compatibility so I wouldn't have to spend much of anything on other new components.
In the process of doing so, when I put the CPU into the new board, something bad happened. The ZIF didn't put up much of any resistance, so I thought nothing was wrong when I locked everything down. After finishing installing all my other components, I tried to turn the system on only to find the power was going (LEDS, Fans, etc), but I got no POST.
I went back in and checked things, only to find that my computer would only boot if I had 2 or less ram sticks put in (Had to be in DIMM 1 & 3. DIMM 2 & 4, the ones that allow dual channel, would not allow it to post with ram sticks in). I swapped through all my ram sticks, and they all check out fine and succeeded memtest as long as they were in the aforementioned slots. I fiddled with the timings and voltages for hours, to no avail. Then it just came to last resort and I took out my cpu to check and see if everything was all right. Lo and behold, 2 of the pins were squashed when I put it in, so I took tweezers and an old giftcard and gently bent them back into place, double checking my work with a magnifying glass.
I plugged the cpu back in ensuring the pins were perfectly aligned this time. The problem persisted. So I swapped in my old motherboard, same issue again.

Am I completely SOL with my processor? it's an AMD Phenom x4 9500, kind of old, but it's served me very well. I'd rather save the money by not buying a replacement, but if there's no other choice then I may go for it, as I have a bunch of old parts (PSU's, Graphics Cards, Motherboards, etc) that I could sell for some extra cash. Hopefully its something completely else I'm missing...

Any help or suggestions is appreciated