Temps seem high

Hi, I'm pretty new here. I have a i920 running at a bclk of 167MHz, and I'm idling with the hottest core at 47C and the coolest core at 44C. Ambient temperature is 75F, temperature in the case in front of the pulling cpu fan is 82C. These temps seem higher than what other people are getting. It's quite frustrating getting a new Noctua SE1366 and seeing high temps.

I've put arctic silver 5 on the cpu in a line across the cores with a width slightly thinner than a grain of rice. This seemed to yield the best results after trying more thermal paste, and less thermal paste. During these exciting moments I discovered that my cpu isn't flat at all, with the center edges dropping off a bit.

What am I doing wrong? I'm determined to see the same temperatures that I see in reviews where people are running the same clock speed as I am but are idling nearly 10C cooler?

Sorry for the rant but this is really getting on my nerves