my boxx idles at 41C and gets up to 47C when rendering.
thats good to hear. I also read that they run about 55 dec c while idle. But 77 and 85 is still difference of 7 deg…whats your idle temp?
p.s. my friend bought a QX6600 and says it runs super cold, with a default fan too…something like 40 deg idle, and 50 deg rendering…
Zalman like to blow their own fans so to speak.
THE best cooling solution available at the moment, is without a doubt the thermailright heatsinks. Either my one the ultra 120 extreme or the new IFX-14, are both VERY good air coolers.
ALso note guys that a heatsink can be extremely let down by poor application of the thermal paste/grease.
I would suggest always using arctic silver and always applying it exactly as the instructions, whiich usually involces a small drop or a thin line of it.
Morbid Angel, my idle temp is about 45°.
I heard the default fan isn’t that bad, but it’s not silent at all. 
thanks DaForce for the tips, I will buy the artic silver.
best regards
themaxxer
just to be sure 77°F or 77°C ?
all celcius…
xx°C
best regards
themaxxer
well I finally got my hands on some arctic silver 5, got some isopropyl alcohol and reseeded my cpu.
When I removed the fan (do remember I didnt put the box together in the first place) I noticed that the thermal grease was not totally applied all over the surface of the cpu!! i.e. it had big gaps! Secondly the speed of all chassis fans was set to low. After the reseed I booted up to find that the temp went down another 10 deg!!
since its summer and I dont have ac at home, it was running at 62 deg c on idle (while its pretty hot here about 28deg c) and usually its at 55, after i reseeded and aslo upped the speed of my case fans, the temp became from 62 to 53 and 75 while under full load. Which I assume at colder ambient temps will be around 10 deg less! so…totally happy.
So basicly from 100 deg c to 70-75!
Thanks every one, daforce !
woohoo 
On another note, the grease ISNT meant to be applied all over the heatsink.
The instructions are quite clear in that.. I hope you followed them?
I mentioned in my first post that it was quite important.
See the instructions here
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins\_as5\_intel\_quad\_wcap.pdf
If you did not follow them I suggest you remove.. clean.. and reapply the AS5. Temps should drop even further.
Good results none the less
hmm yes I read the instructions. However my cpu is unlike the ones in the example. That is it does not have an exposed core. Rather, it has a metal cascet around it, making it one solid metal plate all over the cpu, no visible cores at all! its something like this:
and not something like this
Well the instructions i linked you too above are for the intel quad core with heatspreader (thats the only way they are made) so all you should put is a thin line.
The instructions show the cores just as an example. But all you need is a thin line of AS5… more often has a negative affect or atleast its not as efficient as it should be.
So the instructions are correct. All you need is a thin line
damnit. I read wrong ones before that. Haha…so really if I put it as a thin line it will be even better???
f…n going to reapply it today again…thanks! hahahaa
Yep thin line will be even better
Just make sure the surface (cpu and heatsink) is really clean and dry before re-applying.
And you put the heatsink down on the cpu try to move it as little as possible. Certainly try not to lift it up again.
reseeded again - temp 50-52…slightly less not that much I think I did all I could for it 
It takes a few thermal cycles to full “cure”
So over the next few days turn it off for an hour or so give it time to cool down then turn back on again.. do this a handful of time and it will drop a little more.
ok…honestly though I think its as hot as it will run. Maybe drop when it will be colder outside im happy its not 100 deg anymore thats all.
hehe yeah 100c is crazy. MUCH better now
Hi,
I abrade two Q6600 with sand paper 1000, polish it and use Liquid metal from coollaboratory - no problems. My master machine run at 3GHz and undervoltage Vcore at 1.248V. The fan is a zalman like at the first image at low speed.
Temps idle 20..24°C and full load 39..42°C
-Micha
german forum, but with some good images:
http://awardfabrik.de/forum/showthread.php?t=1371
http://awardfabrik.de/forum/showthread.php?t=326&highlight=q6600
Like I said in earliers posts, my friend also has a qx6600 and its very cool with manufacturers fan etc etc. However qx6700 and qx6800 are quite a bit hotter.
My Q6600 was quite hot befor too, it’s 30% overclocked. I started my tuning, because it was cold weather and the CPU to hot. Now it was hot summer and the CPU stay cool at low fan speed. It’s very silent.
But only undervolt is a good method too, no risk, only fun if it works.
Should not be a Q6600 @3GHz hotter than a qx6700/qx6800 at standard setup?