Q: Before checking the heatsink, I was wondering if I've done everything possible on the software side to keep my AMD Phenom 9750 X4 cpu: 1. Updated all drivers, flashed bios 2. Used 2 different temperature reading software 3. Checked fan speeds (all 100%, all the time) 4. Checked case temperature (GPU is perfect) 5. Activated Cool n' Quiet 6. Used Asus AI Gear 2 to reduce voltage during idle times before I did all of this, my idle was 60C, and it would easily slide up to 65C and start getting goofy at 70C. However, after i did this, the idle is now 50C, but some programs (Tiger Woods 2004) push it over 65C again. Any other suggestions? yeah other than the ASUS bios thermometer bug, i think it's the heatsink. I changed the thermal paste, and discovered something very interesting: the themal paste pad that comes with the stock cooler doesn't cover the chip. it leaves about a 1 mm border around the edge of the chip. i reapplied artic silver and found that while the idle temp is roughly the same, the rate at which it cools down is much better. also, i did some research at amd forums, and the max temp on the X4's is actually 75C. I am checking now and resetting temp shutdown values.
A: Yeah you've done everything I can think of. There's 2 possible reasons that your temps are high: 1) Thermal paste is not making proper contact. This could occur if you applied thermal paste rather than using a thermal pad (which comes on most stock heatsinks). Thermal paste should be thin rather than thick. 2) You're using the stock heatsink. Buy a better heatsink for it and use that. You don't have to go overboard and spend like $70 (unless you really want to); even a $30 aftermarket heatsink from Zalman or Thermalright would be better. Either one of those should cool your temps. If you don't want to buy a new heatsink, pick up some better thermal paste like Arctic Silver 5 or IC Diamond paste (something like that). It's about $5-7 a tube.