Phew! I finally made it all the way through this thread! This thing is epic! But learning takes effort, right? Thanks to all who have contributed thus far. I'm pleased to say that although this was my first build everything has gone pretty smoothly. I've got my e6400 running at 3.01Ghz (430x7) 24/7. It is an L2-stepping, so that be what has limited me, although I've recently done the Vdroop pencil mod and may try for 3.2 again (before it just needed too much vCore - although now that the new 6x20s are out maybe I'll just let this one get hot...)

Anyway, the one thing that has me a touch concerned is my "motherboard" temp (reads as "MB" in Probe and "System" in Speedfan). It had been reading 47-48C for a while, so I pulled off the NB and SB heatsinks and applied AS5 (but not to the Mofset - that didn't seem right...)

The temp now hovers around 44-45, but that still seems high compared to what others get (I often see mid-30s).

Basically, should I be concerned about this? How hot can/should it get? I have a Nzxt Appollo mid-tower case, with front and side intake fans and a rear exhaust fan (all 120mm). Also running a Tuniq Tower on the processor. If I should be concerned, what else can I do?

Also, what is the general concensous on processor (core) temps? I have been trying to keep things at under 60 during Orthos load, but can I go higher? I've noticed that nothing real-world seems to get the temps that high, so can I go to 65-67 in Orthos? What if I dont care too much about the life of the processor? Will overheating the processor fry other parts, too?

thanks
ScottieB