I am using e4300 with stock heatsink and thermal pad that it came with.. Normally my cpu usage are between 1-15% and the temperature hovers between 42-46 degree. I was using tmpgenc to convert some file to mpeg2.. my cpu usage was like 55% and temperature47-50 and it took about 22 mins to convert .. Then I used Cinema craft encoder which uses all the cores and used 95-100% of the cpu and the encoding took only 5 minuete.. But the cpu temperature went to 77 degrees.. !! Its very tempting to encode that fast but does that damage the cpu?.. also isit the heatsinks problem that the temperature goes that high?..

Sounds like a incorrectly mounted hsf, clean off and reapply thermal paste, and remount.

If that isnt it, you have either poor case airflow, or a very hot room.

77c wont hurt the cpu, unless you have it running at that temp all the time, but it's still pretty hot. A C2D will just shut itself off if it gets to 85c.

Are you measuring with Core Temp?

At 77 degrees I bet you the processor is thermal throttling. Easy test to see if your heatsink is on correctly. Do the same load that is getting you to 77 degrees. That means your heatsink should be around 170 degrees Fahrenheit. You will burn yourself on your heatsink at that temperature.

If the heatsink is not warm to touch which I'm betting it is not then the Heatsink is not correctly latched down. I have set a standard Intel heatsink on a x6800. This is one of the copper slug versions. Not latching it down and have run 2 instances of Prime 95 and have not got much above 54 degrees.

I think the problem is with the mounting of the heatsink.. I tried to move it and it moved a little.. I assume it would stay very tight with the cpu and wont move..This is my first time computer building so something had to go wrong..

If I take out the heatsink then I need to re apply the thermal paste right?.. I have Arctic silver 5 but never used it ( I used the thermal pad that came with the heatsink).. Isit okay if I clean the materials Windex?..

I dunno about using windex... After looking at the ingredients I think it'd work fine, but if you have isopropyl alcohol around that's what you should use.

Isopropal alcohol is the preferred substance to remove the old thermal compound.

hmm ig ot the same e4300 and i have a question, the motherboard i have is the commando, i got the e4300 @ 3.0 with a zalman 9700... but the zalman never seems to get really tight, ive applied a lot of pressure to the bolts but still the heatsink can move a lil, im idlin at 38, but under load it would get up to 70? is that good?, im even using default voltages... and i reseated the cpu 3 times and im usin as5, is there anythin else i can do?, the airflow is excellent as well