my athlon xp 2000 is running at 54 celcius idle. is this too high???

Thats pretty high

it is a bit too high. try adding case fans, or making a chimney for the cpu fan

Yep, 54 is WAY TOO HIGH!

I also have Athlon XP 2.0GHz (2400+) and recently replaced the stock coolong fan that shipped with the CPU (from AMD).
As I did I experimented with the temp differences and heres my results:
All running at standard 2.0Ghz (NO overclock)

Stock AMD Fan: 42 C
Copper Orb Fan (no heat compound) 38 C
Copper Orb Fan (w heat compound) 35 C

I used a GOOD QUALITY thermal paste based on pure silver. As u can see it made a big difference!

I have since managed to overclock cpu to 2.32GHz and RAM to 360MHz stable, which runs at around 40-41 degrees C.

hope this helps

Well that just sucks. I've got an athlon XP 2000+ (stock) with a thermaltake volcano
11+ and a thermaltake xaser xaser 2000+, with 7 case fans and i can hit 60 degrees under load.

IMO, 7 case fans is overkill...if they're not arranged just right, they fight each other.

You want to create good airflow across the board with a "purging" effect...there should be balance...CFM in should equal CFM out, or close to it. Warm air will collect at the top, so that's where you want your exhaust fan(s). Fresh air should be brought in from the bottom.

The average case is about 1.5' x 1.5' x 0.75' wide...roughly 1.7 cubic feet...that's not much! The average 3" x 3" (80mm x 80mm) case fan moves about 30 CFMs...so with a balanced system (30 cfm in/30 cfm out), you're completely removing/replacing the air in the case about 17.5 times per minute! Or think of it this way...the air in your case is completely refreshed every 3.4 seconds!

Although I haven't tried it, I've seen many posts about putting a fan in the side panel, directly in line with the CPU/HSF, & then attaching a short length of tubing or duct (sometimes referred to as a "chimney") so that this fan is basically a dedicated fresh air source for the CPU/HSF...seems logical...

I'm not a big advocate of high priced/overly hyped silver-based thermal pastes...are they good products? sure. Are they better than other products? Tests show that they are. Are they worth the extra money for a 3C temp drop? I guess that's a personal decision. But if 3C is gonna make you or break you, you have other issues to address rather than thermal pad vs silcone-based paste vs silver-based paste.

When I buy a new HSF & it has a preinstalled thermal pad, I go with it...there's no mess & no worry about whether I applied it correctly. Of course, if I have to remove the HSF at a later date, I scrape off the old pad & apply paste (usually cheap Radio Shack compound)...but I see no reason to waste a perfectly good pad.

There are several cooling programs available...CPUIdle & VCOOL are two of the most popular. I use Vcool on all my VIA based systems & it drops the idle temps by a minimum of 10C. My mildly overclocked 1800+ (11.5 x 140 FSB) is currently running at 25C...that's with only 2 case fans & a cheap CoolerMaster HSF (aluminum w/copper base) & thermal pad. I've had similar results with a 1200 Duron & 1.333 Athlon T-bird...

40-50C is a good temp for that CPU but 50-60C is acceptable.

I respectfully disagree with jam with regard to thermal pads supplied with HSFs: thermal paste is MUCH better than any pad that I am aware of. I agree with jam about thermal pastes. You don't get much bang for your buck beyond generic Radio Shack paste.

Hey Badboy, no problem...as long as you "respectively" disagree ;)

I realize that tests show paste is better than a pad, but what the hell, if it's there, why not use it? The temp difference isn't all that much...it's not like we're talking about 10 degrees. Plus there's no mess with a pad & no worries about whether it was applied properly (i.e. too little or too much)

AMD actually recommends using a pad...& when installing a retail CPU/HSF, removing the pad & switching over to paste voids the warranty.

Removing the pad increases your risk of chipping the CPU core but if you are careful, you can decrease your CPU temp by 10C by switiching to paste.

But 54C is not too high so it probably isn't worth it.

My XP 2000 idles at 57 and and load is at 60.5 and it has never crashed or anything

its not TOO much! add some fans!