Shoutbox

Watercooling
saw a three foot radiator once

I had a liquid system... That started to drop over my GF3Ti, the bios and, obviously the CPU. It got to 84ºC (That was the lsat time I could see the temp./volt. stats in during the POST. After that it died .

Now I have a 2800+ with the bundled fan (recommended by AMD) and now it's doing fine... 43ºC, is the maximum temp I've got.

Btw, the sticky thing under the dissipator (blah, dodgy word ) should be concentrated over the central chip of the porcessor, don't manipulate it too much since it's very stycky and expands easily.

A good contact may improve a lot your fans effectivity.

I have to make a list on what to do when I get the computer to the store:
-Upgrade stuff
-Check the cooling (and upgrade)
-Make them plug in my USB ports on the front side of the computer that aren't plugged in (if I don't do it myself)
-Check why it will only show RPM of one fan
To be continiued...

There are a coupla things that you can do yourself that might help keep your chip cooler (as opposed to buying a new fan and heatsink, or even a whole new case). Someone mentioned airflow before and thats a great place to start.
Basically tidy up the inside of your case, tie the cables into individual bundles to keep things really neat, u can use 'cable clips' (don't know what they're called but they're little plastic strips that loop in on themselves and tighten) or you could tape them together. Its also possible to do this with the cables that link the CD-ROMs and the Hard Drive to the motherboard, but this gets pretty dangerous since it involves cutting along the length of the cable. After your done, arrange the cables in a way that they're not in the way of the fans. This should improve the general airflow inside the case.
Another thing you could try is to replace that sticky stuff on the bottom of the heatsink with something better, i've used Arctic Silver and that stuff is quite good. It cost about AUS$12 and u can usually buy it at computer swap meets. Once u get the stuff clean the old goop from the bottom of your heatsink and the top of the chip carefully (really really carefully lol) with nailpolish remover on the end of a cotton bud, dry any excess liquid and apply the Arctic Silver in a half mm think layer on both the heatsink and the surface of the chip. Then replace the parts and your good to go. Because the surface of the heatsink and the chip aren't perfectly level the goop fills out the gaps and helps transfer the heat from the chip to the heatsink, better qualilty goop means better transfer of heat.
Adding fans to the case is also a good idea and its been mentioned before. And about the RPM display, it might be that your fan doesn't support it. Most case fans only have the 2 wires that supply the power. Also check that your Chip isn't overclocked and running at the correct voltage, u can usually do this in the BIOS and the manufacturers' webbies will have the correct voltages. Thats about all i can think of that doesn't involve buying a really really big fan and heatsink (lolz, i got one.. but my comps overclocked a little). If you do decide to get one, theyre generally about AUS$50 and if u want optimum cooling and don't care about noise.. look for the Thermaltake Volcano 12.. it big.. loud and i can almost garuntee that it'll drop your heat by at least 10 deg.