I recently built my own computer (for the first time), and have been keeping an eye on the temperature of the CPU since the computer was first turned on. The temperature of the CPU tends to range from around 50C by the time windows has loaded (this is from a cold startup) to around 60 C when the computer has been running for a few hours. This seems really high for a computer that is running at default settings (no overclocking), and I was wondering whether this is normal, or if one of my components is faulty.

My CPU is an AMD 64 3500+ (http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...5_9487,00.html)

My CPU fan/heatsink is a Thermaltake Silentboost (http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/main.htm)

My case is a Coolermaster Centurion (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.ph...enturion%205)\

One possible problem I already know is that I applied WAAAAY too much thermal grease on my CPU when I installed it, though I dont know if that would affect the run temperature of the CPU. Also, I tried leaving the side of the case open and pointing a large fan into the case, which kept the temperature down around 50C, so the problem may lie at least partially with poor airflow in my case. Anyway, if anybody can suggest a way to lower the temperature of my computer, that would be great. Thanks in advance.

Did your heatsink have a clear plastic disc (Almost invisible) over the core where it touches the cpu...

If you didnt remove it that is the source of your overheating.

Did it have a big brown thermal pad?
Did you apply thermal grease over that pad?

Just some ideas...

I dont know about the clear plastic disk, but I'll take off the cpu fan and take a look at that when I have time. There was no thermal pad on the cpu fan, and therefore no thermal grease was applied to the pad.

If you bought a box packed processor, you should have got a heatsink fan combo along with it. This heatsink has a thermal pad on it. If you didn't remove the tape covering this pad, thats your problem. If you didn't get any heatsink fan combo, you bought an OEM cpu. In this case, I would recommend taking off your heatsink, removing the thermal grease and get an AMD recommended Thermal Pad (its different from thermal grease). This should take care of your problem