this seems a bit weird. i have an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ CPU, and i just bought a ThermalTake Volcano 8 heatsink/fan, which says on the box it's rated for up to the Athlon XP 2800+.

even at top speed, this thing is only managing to keep my processor running at 50 degrees celcius.

with my old Volcano 9 (it broke), i didnt have much better results, with temperatures around maybe 45 degrees at idle.

my processor is not overclocked. on the volcano9 i was using store bought heatsink compound, and the volcano8 im using the heat transfer pad that comes attached to the heatsink out of the box.

any idea whats going on here?

Dave

How is your case air flow set up to be? Do you have an exhuast fan below psu with cables wrapped? Have you try to clean out the thermalpad and replace it with arctic silver 5? As far as 50C goes, there is absolutely nothing to worry about if that is the loading temperature from the BIOS...

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE PAT
P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3625v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
Leadtek 7600 AGP 590/1600 VF700 ALCU AS5

i have a 120mm exhaust fan directly below the power supply, and an 80mm fan in the side of the case blowing inward.

Arctic Silver 5 isnt available here without ordering it online or something, but i do have here "Antec Formula 5 Silver Thermal Compound"

its running at around 54 degrees celcius in game right now, with the Volcano 8 clocked down to around 55% speed (its not quite as noisy as the Volcano 9, but its not silent either...)