CPU Overheating Issues (Idleing around 64 degrees)

[tturner]

Hi everyone

So I am having some heating issues with my CPU.  Its idle temp is usually 64 degrees celcius (was 75 before i cleaned it  ), which of course leads to freezing and shutting down when I do any cpu intense processes.  I built the computer 3 or 4 years ago, and this is the first time Ive had problems with it.  I tried going to BIOS (Pheonix) and load the fail safe defaults, but the screen just goes black when i save an exit.  I then have to turn off the power to the computer on the power supply, because manual shutdown and restart just gives me a black screen.  However when i kill the power to the computer then turn it back on it works fine and my CPU temp hovers around 56 for a few hours till it finally freezes again.  So I was just wondering if anyone could provide me with any insight into this problem, or give me some advice on how to cool my processor down (I already ordered a new  Dynatron BH-610/C61G 60mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink with Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound to replace my current heatsink)  Used both SpeedFan and Everest Home Edition to check temps.  All other temperatures in my computer are between 43-46.

System Info (Home Built)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ processor (2.2 GHz)
ATI Radeon 9800 pro video card
2 x 80 GB Westerd Digital hard drives
Allied 500W Power supply
2 x 512 RAM
Soyo Dragon Ultra Motherboard

Thanks for any and all help!

[homer]

that new heatsink that you ordered should cool it down.

[patio]

Also idling doesn't quite tell us much...how many apps do you have running in the background ? ?

[tturner]

I had no programs running when I checked the idle temp.  Opening up firefox or playing music genereally raised the temp 2-3 degrees.

Whats odd is i find that by killing the power to the power supply and reloading the checksum defults the temp will drop to 53 degrees, and stays below 60 even when running video games (such as oblivion), but soon as i restart the computer, or turn it off then back on without killing all power the temp shoots back up to 65

[grazman]

Does anyone know a dangerous temp. for a computer to be at or at what temp. it begins to overheat? Fahrenheit temp would be good, thx.

[homer]

Does anyone know a dangerous temp. for a computer to be at or at what temp. it begins to overheat? Fahrenheit temp would be good, thx.

i would say anything over 70C, or 158 F, for the CPU and anything over 90C or 194 F for the GPU.