yes, i will apoligize in advance for yet another question regarding CPU and temps. I recently put together my system which includes a XP 2400+ CPU, 512 DDR, a Volcano 7 heatsink, and 2 case fans. a fan in the front blows air in, while the one in the back blows air out.

well, my CPU is idling around 48c, case around 37c, with the fan on a low setting. the fan is quite loud on full power, so i really only crank it up for playing games or working with heavy duty programs.

i guess my question really is: what is the normal range for this cpu to be running at? what is the maximum temp i should see before i should shut it down? also, would adding more fans be better? i mean, im already running a good CPu fan...right? thanks guys.

48C on low is normal. I assume you go down to 38c-42c at idle with the fan on high.

Your motherboard should have a shutdown temp for the cpu. Set it (in bios) at the lowest setting to be safe, then you'll have no worries. The min is probably 60C and max is 70C-75C.

As long as your cpu fan is on low there's not much you can do or should do.

cpuidle is good to run while you're not gaming and will bring you down to maybe 40C with the fan still on low.

http://www.cpuidle.de/index.html?download.html

You are running a good fan, but if i was you, i'd go for the Volcano 9 or watercooling, just to be secure...

and yeah, the only thing i am not cool with in the GA-7VAXP Ultra is that the Shutdown temeperature has only one setting, 110°c