Looking for some expert help here and was hoping someone could assist. I have built a friend a pretty high spec PC some time ago and was perplexed by how hot it ran. After booting into Windows the Asus Health Check software kicks in it reports an idle temperature of around 60°C. Under load it can rise to almost 70°. Its being cooled by a Thermaltake AX-7 heatsink coupled with a YS Tech 80mm fan. I have also applied Arctic Silver II paste to both surfaces and a non-conductive CPU shim ( checked it for density ). While this setup aint the best currently available its also not half bad and the temps to me seem abnormally high. I have looked at sites with temp details and loads of cooler comparisons for rough guides but I aint any further forward thus I turn to yourselves for help. Hope to hear from you soon. Scott.

remove the shim

hmm if the shim is causing the the problem then i'd remove it to, although unless its a cheaply made shim cant see that giving u problems u only need a very thin layer of paste sound to me like heat sink is not making true with cpu core most shims now are lazer cut and should be fine maybe u need a bigger case for mobo .. how close is heatsink to PSU? small computer cases dont allow for good air flow thats half the problem u want at least 1 front case fan and 1 rear case fan to help with case air flow. early made shims are known not to be very good the later made shims should be fine

Thanks for the responses folks, its much appreciated. Here is some more food for thought... I think its a pretty good shim - its a Rev.1 from Coolerguys in the states.. I have used quite a few without similar problems. As for the Arctic Silver I was fairly conservative with it and followed the sites instructions for application. The point about the case is an interesting one however - its a fairly small Midi Tower chock full of cables ( rounded mostly ) but it does have two Coolermaster 80mm fans front and back for some Air throughput.. Its just really strange - my own 1800XP runs at 45°C under full load.. Anyway, thanks for all your help - hope to return the favour someday ; ) Scott.