Hey, Steven, I have a very similar build to yours, I have the Q6600 G0 stepping, with B and not B3. I didn't apply Artic Silver 5, I just left the regular thermal paste that came with the AF7, some people said that Artic Silver wasn't needed, so I just didn't apply it. I have another question, which one tells me my temperatures best, Speedfan or Core Temp? On Speed fan I'm 36-39 C on Coretemp I'm 52-54. I have a Q6600 , evga 780i, 2 GB and the ArticFreezer 7 Pro. I'm also planning on lapping it, I want to see what temperatures and speed I get, currently overclocked at 3.0ghz, I tried 3.5 after reading all of this, and it worked, but I didn't like my temperatures, but I loved the speed.