Hello to the sim v community, its been a long time.

I have just completed replacing the motherboard and processor in my wifes computer, I began running prime 95 and within 3 minutes my cpu had climbed from 35c up to 61c which is listed as the safe maximum operating temp for this cpu.

I am using a Zakman CPU cooler (CNPS7500-ALCU LED CPU Cooler - Socket 478, 775, AM2, AM2+, AM3, 754, 939, 940, Dual Ball 110mm Fan)

It is sitting on an asus m4n78 pro mobo, 4 gigs crucial ballistix ddr2 1066 ram. evga 8800gt superclocked. 530 watt psu. 2 hdd (1-250 gig, 1-300gig) all in a apevia x-discovery mid tower case on which there is 1 large fan on back and a relatively small fan on the side.

When we did the upgrade I did not reinstall the o.s. and the build used to have all the same compenents mounted on a msi k9n4sli mobo and using an amd 5200+x2 processor.

We just dropped in the mobo and cpu and fired it up.

I am dying to get these temps down so my wife will leave my gaming rig alone. ambient temp in the room where this comp is used is right at  72f - 22.2c

Thanks for any suggestions.

Yes, I applied a thin coat of thermal paste to the processor before I installed the cooler.

I loved that processor! I ran it for 2 years! Still got it, if somebody wants one.

Do you have "Cool N' Quiet" enabled in BIOS? Could you still see metal on the CPU through your coat of paste? Is the fan plugged into the CPU FAN socket on the MoBo? Just thoughts...

I think prime is REALLY intensive on a CPU, like rich says. I'd try to run some other tests that make your system really busy, and monitor temps for similarities. It may just be prime that causes that. It may be that your cooler doesn't have the capacity to keep up, dunno?...

Hope this helps...

I read just today in the Pros and Cons of the newegg site for a particular heatsink and fan that thermal paste needs several days to break in or season into the installation. Maybe this is your problem.  Of course by now, you probably don't have this problem anymore...