Temps on Phenom 720 & case temps

Idle doesn't mean anything, at all.

My 720 idles at 40ish, but only loads at 55 because I have a Scythe Mugen 2. Your's will probably full load at 70+ which is dangerous for this chip.

The significant thing you can do is to obviously get off the stock cooling. A 9900 would do, though I encourage you to look around. The only time I would truly recommend a 9900 is if other heatsinks don't fit your motherboard or are too tall for your case. You can get heatsinks that perform better for half the price.

have you ever considered water? Its really easy considering and works like a charm. my 720 in my sig loads at 38core, 43cpu. Works great and is well

I don't have first hand experience with the stock cooler that came with the 720. It was cheap and not meant for over clocking. With that sad, it does make for a good paper weight (btw, the old phenom coolers were much better).

Using a S-1283s 120mm rifle cooler + Artic Silver 5. Yes, it's big. Here is my last setting from the top of my head and my current configuration.

720 @ 3 cores @ 3.6ghz 1.45v
Core: 23c
CPU: 33c
Stress test load (Prime 95, OCCT): 44c
Ambient: ?

720 @ 4 cores @ 3.4ghz 1.40v
Core: --- (enabling 4th core disables core temperature reading)
CPU: 33c
Stress test load: 52c
Ambient: Currently 78c.

Just remember that ambient temperature will affect your readings. It was warm last night and my 720x4 CPU temperature was idling at 37c.