I do know about air cooling. Having gone from a dell dimension 4700 case housing a 3.4 Prescott to what I have now, I have a lot of faith in what air cooling can and can't do. The improvements you can make on the cheap are so very worth it.
Sounds like you have a good case capable of better temps. But something else I learned is that more fans isn't always better. Seriously, 2 well placed fans can beat 5 improperly placed fans, or even 10 for that matter!
I've seen a lot of people do this. I look at it for a minute and sometimes taking out a fan or two and better placing the others can add notable chill.
Not saying this is true in your case, just saying to really give thought about the airflow setup and all that stuff. Maybe even try some different configuations just for the heck of it.
I've even seen cases more expensive than what I got (paid like $50 for mine) that simply have bad airflow setups. So the so called "pro's" don't always get it right. I think they care more about making it look nice half the time.
My buddy had a sweet looking case he said he paid $200 for. Had all the lights and bells and whistled, clear on the side, more than a few fans. Really cool to look at. He isn't an overclocker and doesn't monitor temps. I was curious so I checked them for him and they were hot almost like my old dell case!
Anyhow, won't go on about cases anymore, but never assume, no matter how much you pay, that you cause is not at fault for high temps.
More importantly, what is at fault for cpu temps at least certainly is the HSF in combo with that hot air getting out of the case.
I won't be the first to tell you this, but ditch that stock HSF!
When I got my first Intel HSF with my PD 945 I thought it looked good enough to keep things cool since I wasn't overclocking. And I also immediately took that thermal pad off and used some AS.
I noticed my cpu temps weren't awful, but they weren't as good as I thought they should be. Also, decent HSF's these days should help cool the entire mobo. The Intel HSF definitely didn't do that job for me.
I figured that if I could get a highly rated HSF for around $35 or so that it would be a better solution.
I know a lot of people prefer a certain Zalman and a couple others, but personally my case has the tunnel on the side that sat just a couple inches away from the Intel HSF and it was perfectly aligned, so I wanted to take advantage of that.
And that is what you need to consider.
Yeah, had I another case I probably would of picked up that Zalman that has the fan sitting upright on the HSF, blowing to the sides. But with the case I had, even if it did fit with that tunnel, It just wouldn't make sense as it would of screwed up my airflow. Whether it was a great HSF or not, I had to get something that meshed with my case.
Know what I mean?
That is why I had to go with something with a similar design as the Intel HSF (and most/many good HSF's are like that anyhow) with the fan sitting flat atop the heatsink rather than on its side.
I ended up going with Coolermaster for both my case and HSF. For both I only spent like $85 total and the results were worth much more than that for me, so much so that I felt like I stole the stuff!
Case was like $50, HSF was like $35.
I don't need to mention AS as you seem familiar enough with that, but yeah, applying it properly can make a big difference. Not applying it properly can be disasterous. Still, if you use common sense and read the pretty simple directions, its hard to screw up.
I've actually started using the Ceramique exclusively. I used to use that and AS5, but I like the Ceramique as I've noticed as good or better temps, its safer to use, cheaper for one tube of it, and I actually have an easier time getting a good effective layer on compared to AS5. Its more gooey, but I like that.
I've also had problems with AS5, I live in a pretty humid environment and there were times when AS5 wouldn't really dry up, it would stay wet forever and start to burn off after only a couple months then I would need to reapply. But not everybody has that problem and AS5 in most cases is just as good as anything else.
I've heard that Ceramique is better for air cooling while AS5 is preferred for more expensive water cooling. Some seem to favor Ceramique for CPU's, and AS5 for everything else. Maybe because Ceramique is more gooey and sticky and has gives a better hold on those heavy HSF's.
So one thing you can try if you are out of ideas is to try a few reapplications of AS5 to see if you can get better results. Or even try the Ceramique.
However, considering you are using the Intel HSF, I'll just be honest and say that I think 50c idle is actually not bad for an Intel HSF. Seriously. I think my temps were around there, maybe even a little higher when I used it. And I had the exact same setup then as I have now (as far as the case, fans, ect.) as well as the AS applied to the Intel HSF.
But the C2D does run cooler than my PD did, so that could explain why I had a few degrees higher with my Intel HSF.
I would say it's just a good case and airflow setup that gets me to around 50c with a bad HSF with AS on it.
Then what has got me to under 40c idle with both a 3.4ghz Prescott and 3.4ghz PD was simply the coolermaster HSF and ceramique, and those temps here in the summertime, even less in winter. I certainly am expecting the C2D to run even cooler than the PD or Prescott and from what I hear it certainly should.
I made note of it, so it isn't just a guess, the $35 HSF literally dropped my cpu temps well over 10c (I expect even more of a drop with the C2D on Monday cuz that 10c drop remember is with a hot running Prescott and PD). More noteworthy is that all my mobo temps are even notably cooler than my cpu temps. They are in the 35c range, roughly. With the intel HSF, these other parts of the mobo, including the bridges, were running much hotter.
So a good HSF should not only drop your cpu temps, but help your entire case temps.
My coolermaster HSF does a great job with my case. It sucks in. It grabs that cool air coming right in through the tunnel on the side and pushes it hard through the heatsink cooling the cpu and I can feel the air (still pretty cool) running across the entire board. Sweet!
I think its an amazing HSF for the price if you are on a budget since it does cool the entire mobo as well. I don't need to focus any extra fans on the northbridge or mobo in general.
I'm still waiting for my DS3 which comes Monday (which is why I'm bored and writing all this, if it helps, great, if not, I killed some time!). However, that board and my current one are both ATX and pretty much the same design so I don't expect anything different with the cooling or airflow, at least not at stock speeds.
From what I've read just the Northbridge might get warmer. If need be I'll use some paste and get a better solution there for cheap, so no big deal either way. Not worried. My Intel northbridge runs pretty hot too, but since its so close (like less than an inch) away from where some cool air blasts out of the bottom of the HSF its not a problem.
Here is a note for you. For the HS fan and my couple other stock case fans, I did not plug them into the "proper" spots. Since the coolermaster was so quiet and effective, I didn't want it plugged into the board where its speeds would fluctuate. Even when running an intensive game when plugged into the mobo it never seemed to go that fast, or as fast as it could.
Since the coolermaster was the most important fan, I decided to speed that up at all times and slow down my other fans so that I could get more effective cooling without more noise.
The coolermaster had the 4 pin plug for the mobo connection. Didn't have a 4 to 3 pin connector, so what I did was just break the side of the casing off one of my many available 3 pin connectors coming off my PSU wires. Doing this, of course, allowed the coolermaster to run at full speed all the time. I wasn't even sure that plugging a 4 pin female into a 3 pin male would even work, but it has worked great and at full speed ever since.
The 120mm fan already ran slow plugged into the mobo as it was, but I was fine with that. Kept it quiet yet was still fast enough to move air out. Plus my PSU has been a big help, it also kicks air out the back as it is one of those PSU's that had the fan on the bottom and another fan along the back.
I again run this at less than full speed as it can be noisy, but the dual fans even at slow speeds are really effective at grabbing that hottest air (after all, hot air rises) at the top of the case and pushing that out.
My only other fan is just an 80mm coolermaster fan in the bottom front running at full speed (but still quiet as a mouse).
My entire front of my case has either mesh or filtered mesh. So with the fan in the bottom front, along with the entire front being mesh and the vent and tunnel on the side, combined with the PSU and 120mm pushing hot air slowly but effectively out the back, it makes for great airflow with minimal noise and fans.
I should note that I do have an nvsilencer on my 7600gt, but that is pointed down and toward the bottom so it doesn't really have an effect on case/mobo temps although it does keep my graphics card nice and cool.
And that is another thing, if you got a hot graphics card without some kind of nvsilencer or something that will push hot air straight out of the case, then you should do something about that. Otherwise stock cooling on many cards isn't all that great. They may keep the card cooler but also might contribute to putting more hot air into the case.
I better either shut up or write a book! Like I said I'm just bored waiting for my DS3 that comes on monday, gotta do something to kill time.
But seriously, I've had some of the worst air cooling in the world with my dell and over the last couple years have managed to chop that heat in half on hot cpu's to begin with just buy learning a few tricks and basically just paying $85 for the coolermaster case and HSF. Thats about it. Oh, and of course AS.
I'm sure you can get your temps down for cheap.
Lastly, I don't want to come off sounding like a Coolermaster fanboy. But this stuff is the real deal and for such good prices. It's not just me saying it.
Not only do both products have a PERFECT 5 star rating, but what makes it more impressive to get 5 stars is the amount of peole that voted.
The case still manages a 5 star average after over 400 written reviews!
The HSF still manages a 5 star average after 132 reviews!
For cheap air cooling, you just can't beat it. And I never got around to writing reviews, so add one more person (myself) that votes 5 stars on both products.
Check out the products for yourself if you are unfamiliar...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119047
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103001
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