Why is my comp. so hot? (stock speeds, a64 3200 = up to 50 load)

[bnason]

Okay...

So, I just built my first comp. Athlon 64 3200, Lian Li PC-65, Corsair XMS 1GB PC-3200 RAM, Antec TruePower 480, 70GB Raptor, Asus K8V Deluxe.

I'm not oc'ing anything. Everything is at stock speeds. The fans in the case are the stock fans that came with it.

Idle, it's about 38 C. Load (under Prime95 after 1/2 hour) it's at 53C.

I don't understand why it's so hot?? Initially I was using the stock HSF. Didn't like the noise, so I bought a Zalman 7000. Which is great -- VERY quiet -- but now I'm getting these temps. Before it was about 38 idle, 50 load too.

Anyway, I thought before my problem was that I gooped on the thermal grease. So, this time I spread it super thin all over the CPU, and didn't put any on the HSF. It was very very thin, and only a slight sliver here or there not covered.

But, my temps didn't go down at all. My case looks like a bowl (box) of spaghetti -- the wires are everywhere. But could that cause it to get so hot? If so, how do I get them all out of the way?

Need help! Thanks in advance to all -- this has been a super helpful board.

 

[MontyAC]

Did you tighten the Zalman tight? You should be getting better temps than the stock hs now.

 

[bnason]

as tight as i could.... maybe it's the jumble of cables & wires?

 

[mustang_steve]

53c is perfectly acceptable if you are not into overclocking or don't run your gear in an abnormally hot room. The 38c part tells me you have decent airflow, just the CPU needs a little boost.

Consider ducting the CPU to one of your fan outs. Make sure your CPU fan is blowing into the tube if you do this.

Bonus with ducting is that it will allow for you to use reasonably quiet fans and still get good cooling.

The bad though...won't work with the zalman due to the way the fan works with it. The Aplha PAL8150T should work fine for a ducted system though, even though I would look for something form thermalright instead.