Likely a motherboard issue?

Lol.. just put one end through the mounting hole in the motherboard, you might have to take out the pegs on the heatsink so the mounting holes arent blocked. Im not quite sure what the situation looks like. But put one side through the mobo mounting hole, pull it on the back side of the mobo and put it through the other hole across from it, them up and over the heatsink. Zip the ends together, use a screw driver to push down on the square end and pliers to pull on the long end to make it snug/tight. Do that for each side.. just through the mobo mounting holes and up and over the heatsink/fan. done deal hopefully

Went out and bought some 6-32 machine screws, rubber washers, and the bolts that came with the screws. Put the washers directly underneath the head of the screw (like, they were rubbing against the bottom of the head) fed the screw into the CPU mount hole (so the head and the washer were underneath the mobo), and put the nuts over the top of the screw and tightened them down over the holes in the heatsink where the pins used to be (pulled them out) I was getting good temp readings (which I cannot remember but I will post them here when I check) however the AUX reading in speedfan was 128C...which is over freaking boiling point, meaning if that was an actual temperature, I thought I would be able to tell. The heatsink in the middle of the mobo felt warm (I think thats the chipset?) but I dont think I would have been able to touch it at all if itt was 128C, right? Just wanna make sure that its a fluke, like most of the internet said.

Alright update the CPU is running fantastically, speedfan "temp" reading is 39, CPU reading is 20 degrees (DANG) each core is in the upper 20s lower 30s. However aux is at 127 (likely a bug) but the "system" reading is at 96 DEGREES. went to shutdown until I find a solution.

EDIT: system is now reading at 38 celcius. Only bad one is AUX which I think is a glitch. So surprisingly, its all smooth. And my 3 dollar-at-lowes mounting system is giving me significantly lower temps than the push pins did. Thanks for all the help!

OK one more update...the mobo temp changes between like 38 and like 100 randomly from boot to boot..its odd...seems like s sensor problem but I have no idea which reading is accurate

Ya buggy sensors are super common, I think I see one thats bugged out on damn near every computer I've read readings off. Even my new A8-3870K AMD build I just made for myself has a false reading. It sounds like you did a great job, way to go /w the trip to Lowes Just set the shutdown temp. in your bios to 70*C and you'll be fine. If the machine actually gets too hot the bios will shut it down before any damage is done. And ya that warm chip in the middle of your motherboard is probably your South Bridge chipset. I think all the North Bridges these days (the ones that used to be in the middle of the board, with the south bridge in the bottom corner underneath the PCI slots) are integrated into cpus these days. Thats why you only see one heatsink when there used to be two besides the cpu's.

Ah ok. thanks. Will remember to do that. Thanks for all the help!