I'v just installed a new Zalman Athlon XP Cooler to 2600+ CNPS6000-CU heat sink... I was hoping to have it run in silent mode, but noticed that my processor temp was 55c.. Is this ok... or should I incress the power to the fan (and incress the noice).. or will the processor run fine at 55c... BTW this is when the processor is not under load..

the zalman 6000 is quiet but with fairly high temps. Better not to watch them and just watch stability. 55c is not overly hot. The 7000 once they make a socket A version of it will compete against the slk900 for quietness with good temps.

There is something wrong with ur athlon or probably ur mobo im not to sure or maybe ur room. I got 2600xp+ with the stock fan, runs at 40c without load and 44-47 with load. my mobo runs at 31c. But room temperature is 15c-22c so u understand the room is cooling the cpu, case is closed though.

I also have a athlon xp2600+ with a zalman 6000cu- and zalman vga heatsink. Mine runs at 109f idle and 120f full load. Maybe you should reinstall you heatsink with a better conductor like Arctic Silver 3. Even though it will void your AMD processor 1yr warranty but I found it to be much better in operation and also lowers your cpu temps drastically. Also make sure you have very good airflow for you case. I use rounded ata cables and floppy cables to allow unrestricted airflow.