Thermal paste a little on outside of pin

[MajorFoley]

So im putting in a new motherboard an of course like last time my CPU was stuck to the heatsink so gently wiggled it off, however this time i noticed theres a little bit of thermal paste touching a few of the pins on the outside in the middle (photo provided) and now im a little worried about using it. I do have some isopropyl alcohol and cotton buds but ive never encountered a situation like this and i dont know what to do. Thermal paste was the noctua NTH11

[Texas1836]

It depends on what the pins are for, if they were grounding pins they should not matter. If they were main pins, as long as you clean them off as good as you can and the contact pads are not ruined.

[MajorFoley]

5 minutes ago, Texas1836 said:

It depends on what the pins are for, if they were grounding pins they should not matter. If they were main pins, as long as you clean them off as good as you can and the contact pads are not ruined.

How would i go about that? How would i know which pins are what? Like shown in the picture they are on the very outside so cleaning might not be an issue with a cotton bud but well like i said dunno 

[Texas1836]

There is no way to tell. I would try puting the CPU back in the socket and putting the cooler back on (just for a boot test, without thermal paste) and if it boots into windows without a problem you should be fine. Clean the best you can though to be safe.

[MajorFoley]

6 minutes ago, Texas1836 said:

There is no way to tell. I would try puting the CPU back in the socket and putting the cooler back on (just for a boot test, without thermal paste) and if it boots into windows without a problem you should be fine. Clean the best you can though to be safe.

I might just take it to a local store... theyd probably do it safer... Will see if i can get a hold of em

[CommanderAlex]

I was just going to say to use a Q-Tip soaked in high % isopropyl alcohol and LIGHTLY touch those pins to see if the thermal compound comes off. 

[MajorFoley]

On 12/23/2020 at 11:24 AM, CommanderAlex said:

I was just going to say to use a Q-Tip soaked in high % isopropyl alcohol and LIGHTLY touch those pins to see if the thermal compound comes off. 

Yeah i was originallyly going to but im not gonna take chances, its my only current CPU and i was going to go 5900x but i said id wait it out especially since its way out of stock atm. Id rather pay 55 bucks and have someone who knows what they are doing do it instead of loosing 500+ in hardware (AUD prices) but thank you for the suggestions guys, will let you know how i go

EDIT: I forgot about this, took it to Centrecom they cleaned it for free on the spot no service charge all is well

Happy new year guys!