Bent 1150 socket pins...help

[Positronic]

I recently purchased parts to build my own gaming PC. It's the first PC I've put together in almost 10 years, and the first one using an Intel CPU (used AMD on my build from years ago). Everything is pretty straightforward...or so I thought.

I mounted my motherboard to the standoffs in the case, and I put my CPU in the socket. I'm one of those people that always reads the manual, so I figured I'd be good to go. Well...in my haste and excitement to get the rig build and start using it, I neglected to see the huge sticker on the piece of plastic covering the mobo socket saying "INSERT CPU FIRST, THEN REMOVE". 

I took this off and placed it to the side, not even seeing the warning. I put the CPU into the socket, very carefully making sure the grooves lined up and the little arrow was pointing in the right direction, just as the pictures in the installation guide showed. When I brought the harness down over the CPU to lock it in, it felt like it required too much tension, so before I locked it in place I opened it back up, took out the CPU, and noticed 2 bent pins in the socket.

I left it overnight, but the more I thought about it the more it bugged me and so I took everything apart and am sending the mobo back to Amazon for a replacement. This time, I'll be sure to follow the directions more carefully. However, I do have a question for you guys. Like I said, I'm inexperienced with this design, and the last time I put a CPU in a mobo, the CPU itself had the pins, not the other way around. This seems like a poor design choice to me as you're pressing down onto the pins and it just seems like it would make it very easy to bend them if you ever needed to take your CPU out for any reason.

So my question is...is there some kind of specific procedure to use when doing that? Or should I keep that little plastic piece forever and if I ever need to take out the CPU and put it back in again, use that piece? I'm sure I'll be flamed and made fun of for this post, but I'm really curious to know.

[defunkt]

Keep the plastic thing on there and it will pop off when you have the cpu in and press down and the tension bracket.

[nsyedhasan]

Keep the plastic bit in case you need to send it back.

[Tea1337]

For intel keep that plastic piece in the mobo while installing, ALSO I always install the cpu and ram outside of the case in the motherboard. As you are putting down pressture(seems like it's alot but it's not) the plastic piece will come out telling you the CPU is in place. There are a fiew tutorials on how to straighten bent pins.

[Butterfish]

I always pull the plastic cover off just before installing the CPU. But you can keep it on if you want to. Also, it does need a lot of tension to secure it in placed. Freaked me out as well the first time