If I run my CPU at its usual speed of 1.8 I get system failures/crashes all the time under load(gaming, etc). So I change the clock speed from 133 to 100 in bios to run my CPU at 1.34Ghz to give me a more stable system. Even at idle my bios tells me my CPU is at 78-80C. I just cleaned up my heatsink. Case is vented good. Just updated my bios (rev. 1010 04/08/04). Only thing I can think of is that square patch of whatever between the heatsink and CPU (I forget what you call it). Also my vcore voltage reads at 1.72 even though its set at 1.65. Any suggestions?

You shouldn't start a 2nd post about the same issue. If you removed the HSF & didn't replace the thermal material, that is most likely your problem. The pad should NOT be reused! Get yourself some thermal paste (Radio Shack has it for $2), remove the heatsink again, thoroughly clean it, then apply a fresh layer of paste. You don't have to use Arctic Silver, but apply the new paste following their instructions: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8 x 210MHz 768MB PC3200 Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit WinME/WinXP Pro

Thanks guys! (Sorry about the double post too.) A cheap bottle of thermal past solved my problems. My CPU temp is back down in the right range of 40C (ish). All this time I thought it was a bios setting or some config problem.