Depending on the temperature in the room, the kind of heatsink/fan you're using and the number of fans in the case, it seems a little hot. Low side would be 33-35. Standard would be 45-53 under load. Probably, anything around 55 is still good. Approaching 60 or over and it is running too hot.

Also, some motherboards have the temp sensor overcompensated in BIOS. If this is the case, check if your motherboard manufacturer has a BIOS update that addresses this.

My Duron sits at 60 and it works fine, i dont see a problem, if its hot its hot. It still works and it aint dead and its been on that fan+heatsink for a while now.

Break out some artic silver.

i heard those things run a little warm
maybe check the hs/fan to make sure it's on correctly
they dont make em easy to put on
also the "pad" that most factory hs/fan come with isnt always the best
that arctic silver stuff fhas always worked well for me

How exactly is artic silver used? do you just put some on the bace of the fan and attach it strait away to the cpu???

First up, remove the heatsink from the CPU, clean the CPU core and the base of the heatsink thoroughly. Something like acetone free nail varnish remover will do the trick.
 
Then put a very thin coating of Arctic Silver onto the CPU core (the AS only wants to be on about as thick as one sheet of paper).
 
Then attach the heatsink as normal, but try not to move the heatsink around too much otherwise it will smudge the AS all over the place.
 
Whilst your at it, have a look inside the CPU socket on the motherboard. If you have a thermistor in there, try and bend it about a bit so that it touches the bottom of the CPU. This should help give slightly more accurate readings. You could also put a small dab of AS on the top of the thermistor.

The design of the case may be at fault for serious heat problems. If you find that the processor runs cooler with the covers off then it means you have dead airspace that is not being extracted. Usually this is at the top of the case. My 1.2GHz Duron ran at 57C (Ambient 27C), cut out a hole in the space on the right hand side of the case (removeable cover) and fitted a 8000RPM 65mm fan. The MBM now reports only 47C (Ambient 29C). 10degrees difference without liquid cooling in a bloody hot room.
 
Oh - And before anyone tells me that the case design is part of the cooling system (directed flow). I know this, that is why I put the comment at the top about "If...the covers off." Most case design below $200 is pretty terrible for cooling matters.

My 650 Athlon ran at 57 celcius last night, but you have to remember, it's 41 degrees in my house. That was with a triple fan and heatsink too.

Quote:
Oh - And before anyone tells me that the case design is part of the cooling system (directed flow). I know this, that is why I put the comment at the top about "If...the covers off." Most case design below 0 is pretty terrible for cooling matters. Errr... I'm not so sure I'd agree with that. I have a Fortrex "Magic" MG-780 full tower, which cost me £45 & I don't think it does too badly. Ok, so I have modded the fan mounting behind the CPU by making it 1 nice big hole instead of loads of little 1s, & I've also made it big enough for a 92mm fan, instead of the original 80, but that's the only mod I've done to it.... so far [although it also has an 80mm in the front bottom mounting position]. I do plan to do more, as my room does get fairly warm this time of year, but then I also have a CPU that puts out a bit more heat than yours or jdulmage's - I have a an Athlon XP 1900 [1.6Ghz] - which @ present is idling @ 52&degC [system @ 31&degC], tho it was as low as 44&degC yesterday morning when I woke up [i hadn't just turned it on either, it's on 24/7].Quote:
My 650 Athlon ran at 57 celcius last night, but you have to remember, it's 41 degrees in my house. That was with a triple fan and heatsink too. 41&degC in your house??? I thought Canada was supposed to be cold??? That's over 100&degF, isn't it? I don't know how you can stand it!

lol, dude if ur house is 41 degrees, i think u should worry more bout buying a fan for ur house. Im sure u could fry eggs on ur bench top with temps that high..lol i read an story once on the net bout a guy who fryed an egg on his athlon 1.2gig cpu...he made a foil tray and placed it on top of the cpu and played quake 3 for awhile and sure enuff the egg was done and just in time for breakfast hehe..hey that could be the future of home innovations. Cook breakfast, lunch and dinner, use it for a water heater and warn ya home in winter with a single cpu...could save u a **** load of money from yearly expenses hehehe. Second thought jdulmage, buy some more cpu fans...i think i can smell ur puter melting.

I bet my PC CPU is between 58-61c at the moment. This room is always hot (south facing, above the boiler with all the pipes under the floor, quite small and not much ventilation). I have some cooling in there but it's as noisy as I can stand without earprotection. I'm just going to wait for it to melt and that's my excuse for a new cpu and motherboard
 
I'm not intending to go delving in the dusty innards of my PC to clean the bottom of the CPU heatsink and reapply some Artic Silver. I'm not fussed if I have to walk around in t-shirt a if i'm on the PC for any length of time (even in mid-winter) but thats my two ancient monitors fault for pumping out so much heat.
 
Heres a link to that picture one of you people were on about ... I might try this someday ...
http://www.handyscripts.co.uk/trubador_egg.htm

RandyC - 1 thing you could try is doing something I saw on a modding site one time. I'm assuming you have a front intake fan, yes? Your problem is that the PC's temp depends on the air that it can take in, right? & the room air is too hot, soooo.... what about getting air from somewhere a bit cooler, like outside.
 
You could do this a number of ways, but I think the easiest would be to cannibalise an old vacuum cleaner for parts. You know the sort that have the long bendy hose that is detachable? & you just push it into the hole it connects to & twist it to lock it in place? Well I was thinking that you could cut out a section of the cleaner's casing that incorporates the socket thingy for the hose, cut a hole in front of your case in front of the fan, & mount the piece from the cleaner there. Then all you have to do is move your PC to be neear the window, hook up the hose, & hang it out the window. You might wanna put some mesh over the end of the hose as well, to keep bugs out.

Thanks for your advice Alien. To be honest I don't have the parts or the desire to make up a device like that (i'm staying in my old room at my parents house until I start my new job in late august, so its only a temporary problem). I think i'm going to replace these huge old, storage heater like iiyama monitors for a couple of LCD monitors when I get some cash in the bank. As for cooling the CPU i'm probably going to go for some sort of water cooling in the nearish future possibly when I upgrade.

Quote:
Thanks for your advice Alien. To be honest I don't have the parts or the desire to make up a device like that (i'm staying in my old room at my parents house until I start my new job in late august, so its only a temporary problem).I didn't mean to gut your own hoover! LOL. I meant keep an eye out incase you see 1 in a skip/dumpster/whatever - you don't need the rest of it to work, just the socket/connection & hose to be intact. Or you could go to a junkyard or something to see if they have an old broken cleaner that has the right parts.

But anyway, if you don't mind the heat, I guess that's your call. Quote:I think i'm going to replace these huge old, storage heater like iiyama monitors for a couple of LCD monitors when I get some cash in the bank. As for cooling the CPU i'm probably going to go for some sort of water cooling in the nearish future possibly when I upgrade. LOL about the monitors. I know what you mean, I have an 11-ish year old 20" Eizo Flexscan 9400 that puts out a fair bit of heat, as does my ancient 8-channel, push-button 21" TV. I also have the airing-cupboard in my room, & all the central heating pipes go under my floor, so I know how you feel.

As to water-cooling.... I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to go that route. @ present, if I was to try something like that & there was an accidental leak & something got fried it would take me ages to replace. Maybe if/when my financial situation improves, then I might look into it.

Hmmm - maybe in winter I could run a pipe from my PC through my fish tank, then I'd keep my fish warm & my PC cool.