Anyone comment on this.. my woes with my SLK-800 and XP 2100+ (palamino) .. lead me to email thermalright.. he gave me a list of responses.. proving very helpful.. one of them was this... I have the AV7333 asus board.. i will do some searching on this later.. anyone care to comment..?

Here is the rest of the email

Asus just trying to report a temp that is closer to actual cpu die temp.
The chip can withstand 90C or 95C (depend on the chip). If you are way below 90C then you have nothign to worry about.

Also, you can not compare your temp to a different person's setup. Different boards will yield different cpu temp even with same chip, heatsink, environment. Even it's exactly same setup, the temp could still be different. Thermistors could touch different area of the chip thus give you a very different reading.

The latestest ASUS Bios (A7V series) corrects this extra 10degC observation made here. Update your Bios if you are bothered by this.

I'd have thought a high-performance heatsink was one that doesn't need a high-performance fan.

I use a 2100+ and get no problems with 5v fan.

*edit* oh yeah, and I overclock it to 2200 specs!

Update your BIOS to a later version to cure this 'problem'. I've got an Asus A7V333 too and was worried about my temps - 67C CPU/37C MB idle according to AsusProbe. This was under BIOS rev 1008. When I flashed to rev 1012 the temps dropped by 10-15C and I was mighty relieved!! BIOS's from rev 1012 have 'improved hardware monitor information'.

Download and use ASUS Update if, like me, you are wary of flashing your BIOS. This is a Windows program that detects and automatically updates your BIOS. Note that it will only install the latest version - if you want an earlier version (eg you don't need 333MHz support), then you will have to do it through DOS (AFlash). All the info and downloads are on the ASUS site, so print it off and follow it to the letter and you should be fine

http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7V333&langs=01

If in doubt, don't do it! At least you know about this issue and don't need to worry your system is overheating...

I believe that the Palamino runs hotter than the Thoroughbred by up to 10C. My Athlon 1800XP is a Palamino too and I was even thinking about 'upgrading' to a 2000XP Thoroughbred for the cooler running! They're only about £60 in the UK now.

Another tip is to use Artic Silver 3 - my CPU temp dropped 5C - it's worth the same as an exhaust fan!

My athlon 1400 (not xp) idles on an abit mobo at ~23ºC
my athlon XP1600+ (1400MHz) idles at ~35ºC !!!
Same voltages!

without fans on heatsinks:
-athlon 1400 idles @ 30ºC with really crappy spire heatsink (rated up to athlon1000)

-athlonXP1600 idles @ 40ºc with a very nice heatsink (akasa 821)

This is a problem with the P4PE as well.

My board seems to read about 8-10C too high, and many other P4PE and other Asus users report the same at Asus Boards Forums. It appears a BIOS update might fix your problem. I'm still hoping and update might fix mine as well.