Cpu Overheating?

Hi there guys, running an Asus A8V Deluxe with an Athlon 64 3500+, had my setup for nearly a couple of years now, basically the problem is that over the past 2 or so months, whenever I try to play any games or do anything such as virus scan etc basically (in my estimation) anything that places an additional load on the cpu my game will get blocky and my pc will shut down (must be a heat issue right?)

My GFX card is a galaxy glacier 6800GT, that's at 69C idle, is that ok?

My MB idle temp is 23C but my CPU idle temp is 53C, far too high right? The load temperatures start shooting up past 70C. I've basically avoided using the pc for anything apart from browsing, had exams so haven't had the time to look at it properly until now.

I've tried reseating the heatsink a couple of times and it really does seem flush, could simple misapplication of the thermal compound be enough to produce temperatures of this magnitude (55-75C?). My cpu fan is running at 2900RPM, it's the stock cooler, connected to my mb via 3 pin.

I've just ordered an XP-120 and a Panaflo 120mm fan, as well as some Artic Silver Ceramique.

Just wondering if anyone could tell me why it's running so hot? I don't understand how the stock cooler could produce such high temperatures if the ambient temp is so low (mb temp is only 23C remember?)

Btw all these temperatures and recorded with Asus Probe.

Thanks for reading and any help would be much obliged.

Hi Punto - i think it's one or a combination of the following factors. (I just set up an A8V with 3500+ stock cooler (and it's the newcastle core so the hottest version of the 3500+ you can get). It idles at 42-45 deg (ASUS probe).

Use thermal compund VERY sparingly - it's intended to fill micro scratch on the HS/cpu surfaces...NOT a 1mm thick layer. This can have dramatic affects on performance if you're using loads.

Make sure you have decent airflow ...although your motherboard temp would suggest the case is cool...

The graphics card is too high (is it overclocked??) I would reset the cooler on that as well...or buy yourself an arctic cooling / zalman fan.

Temp you should be getting:

CPU at load = 60 Max / 45-50 idle
GPU at load = 70 Max / 50-55 idle

thanks for the reply, helpful! :D Just got an order for a XP-120 with a 120mm fan on top, gonna take my time to clean up the inside of my case and correcting mount the HSF, also with the GFX I'll try remounting the cooler on that, it's a galaxy glacier 6800GT running at its stock speed, so it already has like an artic cooler on it

http://www.3dnews.ru/documents/8547/...rce-6800gt.jpg

wonder why it's running so hot, gonna check the monitor tho cos only looked at the temperature a few times (no artifacts) and it's always read 69, let's see if it actually changes!

Painstakingly took it all apart, every last screw and removed all the dust bunnies, reapplied thermal compound (arcticlean + ceramique) and now have cpu idling @ 36-38C and GPU idling at 48-52C!

Got my xp-120 and 120mm fan to mount, will do that in the next couple of days, thanks for the advice, really helped me out :) didn't realise something as small as thermal compound could reduce temperatures by nearly 20 degrees!