I'm using an Athlon XP 2100+ (Palomino core) with the this cooler. I used the thermal pad that came with it as I'm not an overclocker. In the winter months the temp has been fine but on a hot day like today it is frequently going over 60 C idle and sounding the temp alarm. I built a PC for a friend with a XP 2800+ and used the exact same cooler and pad, and he only gets 50 C under full load, so what am I doing wrong?

well first of all the 2800 is a barton core which runs cooler than a palomino core. second of all, thermal pads are awful, use a bit of isopropyl alcohol (you can buy it from maplins) and put some artic silver 5 on it (available from overclock.co.uk or thecoolingshop.com) and then resit the heatsink and fan, it should run much cooler. i had a 2100 that rarely went above 30oC with this cooler that i am now selling on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3475538537&category=42001) hope this is of some help AMD Athlon 2500 @ 3200+ Abit NF7-S v2.0 512MB (2x256) matched pair Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 in dual channel Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128MB Maxtor Diamondmax 80Gig HD ATA133

Thermal pads are not "awful"...they're only slightly less efficient at thermal transfer than paste. The advantage is, they're easy to use & are of a uniform thickness. AMD recommends using a pad...if the pad is removed & paste used instead, it voids the warranty. One of the problems with paste is that people don't know how to apply it properly...they think "more is better" so they glop it on & spread it out with a trowel...like some women with their makeup...lol! CoolerMaster makes great HSFs. Is that the one with the copper base? If so, it's a damn good one...I use that exact one on all my systems...it's cheap & works well. My overclocked 1800+ (Tbred) is running at 27C as I type! Before you panic, do the "touch test". Get your CPU up to temp (60+), then quickly shutdown, pop open the case & carefully touch the HS. Is it hot? or is it warm? If it's warm, you may have a temp reporting error. Updating the BIOS usually corrects it. If it's hot, make sure the HSF was installed properly (not reversed) & you may need to evaluate your case cooling configuration as well. ...my lifestyle determines my deathstyle...

damn, i didnt know removing the pad voids the warranty *gulp* lol AMD Athlon 2500 @ 3200+ Abit NF7-S v2.0 512MB (2x256) matched pair Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 in dual channel Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128MB Maxtor Diamondmax 80Gig HD ATA133

Read it & weep...lol http://www.xtremetek.com/info/index.php?id=14 ...my lifestyle determines my deathstyle...

i guess if you cleaned it off really well then they wouldnt be able to tell you didnt use that stuff they say you can use as a temporary solution or whatever. AMD Athlon 2500 @ 3200+ Abit NF7-S v2.0 512MB (2x256) matched pair Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 in dual channel Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128MB Maxtor Diamondmax 80Gig HD ATA133

Thanks for all the replies, I have an OEM processor so I'm not too worried about the warranty issue. I took the heatsink off and replaced the pad with a blob of Coolermaster Premium Thermal Compound and it didn't make much difference, but the heatsink was getting very hot so I thought the heat must be conducting well from the CPU to the heatsink. To test this, I took the side off the case and placed a desk fan there, and on the low speed the CPU temp has come down to 48 C, so I think it's time for a better case!