I built this computer about six months ago with a slightly low-end processor, the AMD dual core 3800, and I bought a higher-end heat sink ("Triton 70" ) , with intent to upgrade my CPU.  
 
Well, today I downloaded a program to tell me what temp my CPU ran at, and it  was in the low 50's (while just running that one small program), which, from what I understand, isn't quite normal.  I downloaded a different program just to check if that program was off, but they're both saying the same things.
 
Does anyone have any ideas on why it's that high?  Or am I just misinformed, and that's about normal?
 
Thanks in advance.

list all of your specs.
 
download CPUz and post a pic of it and of your temps.
 
Have you OC'd any? What are your clocks and voltages?
 
50c isnt that bad. If that was at idle, i would worry.
 
Run prime95 for a few minutes and check your temps.

is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit? if it's in F' then it seems normal because that's 10 C' and my AMD 5000+ runs around 18/13 (c1/c2) with Zalman 9500 (and it was o.c.'d to 3.0ghz). - just for kicks, the same CPU w/ same setting ran 13/9 (c1/c2) with Thermalright IFX-14
 
if that's in C' then it's very possible that you either placed it incorrectly or thermal paste issue or, even more stranger, air bubble inside???? also check your voltage in the bios... no idea why it would set itself high or anything but check it anyway so you can rule it out...  
 
 
gl.
 
 
b

temps look a bit on the high side; try running something stressful for about 15 minutes, then check the temps.  As long as you max below 70C, you should be OK.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800
Triton 70 Heat sink and fan.
MSI  K9MM-V Motherboard
2.0 (2 x 1) GB DDR2 667 PNY RAM
Radeon x1650 512 mb  (AGP, cause I'm a lame-o)
Seagate 250 GB SATA 7200 RPM
Panther Rhino (Terribly funny name) 450W PSU
All in a Raidmax Katana case with an extra expansion slot exhaust fan.
 
The program says the fans are at 0 RPM, but that's a lie I can see that every fan in my case is spinning.

 
 
It is not OC'd at all.
 
 
 

 
  .....  
 
I would hate living in a place where 50ºF indoors was considered normal

Hmmm I ran prime95 and at 100% load for a few minutes, it only went up from 51 to like 54...

 
 
unless my core temp is lying. that's what is displaying. i'll post when i get home just to see if it's a reading error. (i didn't think it was but i would let others decide).

i wish my cpu was 50f then i would be able to keep my beers cold on it. my computer would be like air conditioning for my room instead of a heater.  does your ram run at 32f that's normal? do you live a freezer?  
 
just kidding i just thought it was funny. but i would check your temps again in the bios. unless you have $700 phase cooler hooked up to it  
 
50c is normal for summer temps my pd 940 oc'ed to 3.7 is 51c right now and my amdx2 5000 is 49c

i hear that the arctic cooler freezer 7 pro,really does a good job,best in class??,$36.00cad,50c is only 120f which is not bad,perhaps there is toooo much thermal grease twix the cpu & heat sink..:> )

dm - speedfan sometimes gives weird temp readings.  Try a different program like coretemp.