Thermalright Ultra 120 is there something wrong?

[drums101]

I just purchased a thermalright ultra 120 with some AS5 and a thermaltake fan with like 95cfm. I installed it on my stock q6600. The idle temps of my cpu was like 34C in a room thats 23C. The load temps in cod4 were like 44C. I thought this cooler was supposed to be way better then this. AM i doing something wrong? I know the AS5 is supposed to set but thats only a couple of degrees off. Also I am pretty sure i put the AS5 on right. A thin line across the two dies on a quad and just put the heatsink on. IDK any suggestion? Thanks

 

[rockbyter]

thats pretty much what you get. those temps are quite reasonable.

 

[themyrmidon]

Those temps are very good (more than I can say for my E8300 at 50% hits 55C).

 

[Nils]

All temperature readings are relative. If you read 34°C, your CPU probably isn't 34°C. But if the temp of your CPU would heat up with 1°C, the temp reading in your monitor will also go up with one degree, got it?
What is really important to get the right info from your monitor, is to know which temps you read when you still had the stock cooler on it. Then you know how many degrees your new cooler can get off your CPU.
But the TRUE is kinda special cooler, because as you probably already know, its base isn't flat, resulting in a poor metal to metal contact and a great loss of its capabilities. To fix that most people lap it.
I also have a true (not lapped) and a Q6600 and at 3GHz I get temps of 30°C at idle going up to 60°C stressed with prime95. Actually I'm not happy about those load temps, but I think there's nothing you can do about it except maybe lapping it.
So as a conclusion: If you're thinking of high OC'ing and still want your chip to last for some time, lap the true and if you don't want to do that sell it and get a heatsink with a perfectly flat base.