Bought 7960x with damage pads...

[Magni]

I bought a 7960x from the seller from the video: "This HAS To Be Fake - "New" eBay Intel Extreme Edition CPUs"

 

It has 3 pads damaged. I contacted the seller and they responded:       

               

Quote

As you may have seen our product description before placing the order, "There is some cosmetic blemish, such as scratches or damaged on the PCB. "

This is factory excessive processor.
It's normal to see the scratches/dents on PCB/PINs on such processors.
This item has been tested before shipment.
So you can use it without problem.

I bought an x299 mobo. Is it worth testing out the cpu? Or could it damage the mobo? Is 3 damaged pads can be considered cosmetic? 

 

I am kind of lost here with what to do. Thanks for any assist in advance.  

[jaslion]

Is that solder on the pins? Is it a bump you can feel? If so I'd NOT use this thing.

[Magni]

It looks like a scratched top layer.

[Freakwise]

Looks like solder to me, and you technically can remove it using a soldering iron and solder wick with some isopropyl alcohol, BUT you have to be careful bcs, well, you literally put hot solder tip to the bottom of THE cpu and while substrate is probably not the most heat conductive material, there's still chance you broke it, while removing that solder (if that was solder at all in the first place)

[Poinkachu]

Uh, that looks like a hardened solder to me
a hardened solder on pads is not cosmetic damage.
I think also see a thin pin beneath the solder bridging those 4 pads.
Minor thin scratches is cosmetic damage.
Deep scratch that torn off the PCB coating or the pads (that green/black/blue color) is not.
Hardened solder on pads is tamper / mods, not cosmetic.

Removing solder gonna be a pain in the arse and risky endeavor, you can take all the solder off using a wick, but yeah, solder wick needs to be REALLY heated up in order for it to work well.
And most usually you won't get ALL the solder off with only 1 time wicking.

[Magni]

I don't think it's solder. I used a plastic pry tool and it is soft and moved. I put some pics from other angles. 

 

I have an old i7-950 laying around and considering scratching it to see if damage is similar. 

 

If I was sure it would not damage the mobo, I would test it. 

[Magni]

I scratched an i7-950 and damage looks similar, minus the floating pieces of pads. But honestly, I have no idea how that kind of damage could have been caused. I scratched the 950 with a mohs' diamond pick and deeper grooves were hard to make. 

[jaslion]

Oh dear that is a scratched pcb. Seems to just be top layer then. The original picture made it look like metal hence the confusion.

 

Should be fine and good to go. The pcb is basically just well the hardness of glass ish so scratches pretty easily still.

[Magni]

It Posted. Thnx for the help.