Help with Cpu Temp and RPM Please...

Hi everyone, here is my deal..Recently I haven't been happy with the temps on my 3.0 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2..they would typically be around 35C/45C at idle..So I decided to go into the bios and disable smart fan, now I see the temps ranging around 24C/34C and the RPM has jumped from 1210 up to 4167 now..

So here is my questions..
Should I leave smart fan off and not worry about the life of the cpu fan, or should I turn it back on and just accept the higher temps?

Another question, when i turn my pc on now, there is about a 3-4 second pause before all the fans are kicking into high gear, I don't remember that being that way until I disabled smart fan..Is that anything for me to worry about?

I just wanted to add that I play hours of games and have seen the temps on the cpu hit the roof, in the 70's (celcius)..But with smart fan off I now see temps hanging around 55C..This is a Gateway PC that I just kinda upgraded along the way, so the cpu/heatsink is stock from the factory..I also have not tried reseating the heatsink, is that something I may wanna think about doing?

Thanks in advance

My PC Specs: Nothing is overclocked

3.0 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Windsor)
500GB SATA II HD
WD IDE 320GB HD
4GB DDR2 667(PC2-5300)
DVD+RW Dual Layer
Lite-ON DVD-RW LS
Corsair VX450W 12V@33A
ASUS 9600GT 512M DDR3
Vista 32bit

well it sounds to me like you did what i would have done. your temps are lower so really the only two things you have to care about are if the noise level bothers you and perhaps the fan life gets shortened (not a big deal as they arent expensive).

First, thank you for the responses...the noise for me isn't a problem at all, surprisingly it isn't that bad.. Can anyone recommend a shutdown temp that I should enter in the bios? right now there isn't anything entered that's telling it when to shut down.. thanks

Thank you soo much for that info sighQ2..I checked a while back and found out right quick that this mobo is locked, so no Overclocking here..

I set the shutdown at 70, we shall see how that works out

Now for that Cpu heatsink/fan..I could sure use a recommendation on something here..I need something on the smaller side, due to my cramped mobo..I have no prob installing one, but honestly I could use some help with just picking out the right one..If at all possible I would like to replace it without taking my mobo out..Can anyone recommend a good one to me..I already have a tube of arctic silver laying around, I just need something to put it on....price doesn't matter, i just want it to be quick n painless.. thanks

might take a good look through the charts here: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Ohhh thank you much spathotan, I didn't even see that..I'm gonna purchase that one for sure..it looks good to me.. thanks again