I am new to this and have several questions. I have got a ASUS A7N8X mobo and with an Athlon 2700+ cpu. My cpu temps run from 50c to 58c averaging I guess 55c. Is this a normal temp? The cpu fan speed is averaging 3800rpm is this ok?
Also could someone explain cpu cooling and case cooling? I would like to understand what would one need to look at when looking at cpu and case fans? Also does the cpu fan pull air away from the HS or does it direct air to the cpu heat shink fin? same with the case fans should the air flow be out of the case or into the case?
Is there any good articiles on getting a better understanding of this?

A follow up on my post. The cpu temp reported of 50-57c is from the ASUS probe. I went into the BIOS and it reports the cpu temp of 73c, Which should I believe? I think 73c to hot based on the spec of the athlon 2700+ says 90c. What should I do and/or look if this is indeed to hot?

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/

Usually, I would say to trust the BIOS, but that temp seems awfully high. One way to get an idea would be to actually touch the heatsink (carefully of course).

Remove the side panel from the case & run your system to get it up to normal temp. Then shutdown, power off & touch it...be careful though. It should be warm, but not scorching hot. Obviously you won't get a temp this way, but at least you'll get an idea of which of those readings is closer. If it's closer to 50C than 70C, a BIOS update might help.

AsusProbe is updated constantly...it seems like almost every month...so you may wanna try another version. There are several other hardware monitoring programs too.

As for case fans, you'll get varing opinions...but you should probably have at least two...an intake fan in the front drawing in fresh air, & an exhaust fan in the back taking out the warm air. The power supply fan helps to vent the case too.

Short, to the point and it has pictures:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/cooling_guide.pdf

The hsf normally blows cooler air over a hotter heatsink.

The best case fan blows from the side of the case as directly as possible on the cpu/hsf.

Front and side blow in, rear and top exhaust.

And; you don't need 12 fans unless your girlfriend sells 'em.

I updated the ASUS Probe program and the BIOS. The case had a fan in the back pulling air out and one on the side pulling air out. I turned the fan on the side around to bring fresh air in and I get basicly the same reading. BIOS 72c after running some time, 43c when pc first starts after off for awhile and Probe 50-57c both after running and shut down for awhile nd restarted.(50 being when started up and 57 being playing a game)
I got the PC warmed up and shut down and I could keep my finger on the heat sink with out having to remove because of heat, but I could not really tell weather if it was closer to the 70c the BIOS reported or the 55c the ASUS Probe reported.
What would be my next step to look at? Should I just think about seriously looking at a different HS/HSF or should I take a look at the thermal compand?
Thanks for any help!

Well, if you could keep your finger on it, it sure wasn't 70C...that's 158F! Ever see a turkey with one of those popup things in it? It's designed to pop at about 160F...LOL!