Typical Temperatures for AMD Phenom II 965 with Stock Cooler?

[kumori]

I recently completed my first PC build, so I admit I'm not too experienced in determining if the temperature readings I'm getting for my build are in a decent to good range.

My build is:
Antec 300 Case (1 120mm top fan, 1 120mm back fan)
Gigabyte MA790GPT-UD3H
AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4gz BE
4GB G-Skill DDR3-10700 RAM
Integrated Radeon 3300 Video
Windows 7 64-bit
Corsair 650w PSU

I am using a stock cooler with stock thermal paste. The case fans are running at "low" speed. The temperatures I have under the "Balanced" power profile is:

Idle: 31 C
100% Load (running Prime95 for over 1 hour): 67 C

If I put the power profile at "High Performance" the idling temp is higher:

Idle: 44 C

I'm guessing this discrepancy is because high performance sets the minimum CPU clock at 100%, while balanced allows the CPU to downclock as needed. The CPU temps were measured with CoreTemp64 and HWMonitor 64-bit.

I just got some Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal paste and I'm still looking for a good CPU cooler, but I wanted to try the build out with the stock stuff before seeing if I need the after-market stuff (I will game occasionally and watch streaming HD video). I've also heard some rumblings that AMD doesn't like Arctic thermal paste on their CPU, so that made me hesitate a bit.

So are the temps above acceptable for my CPU? Should I aim to get them lower?

 

[popatim]

your temps are fine.

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

The AMD sites recommend 62C max, but u are safe with 70C or less, so, in ur case the temps that u get with the stock cooler are fine. If u want better temps u need go with a CPU cooler.

 

[kumori]

Thanks!

It's good to know that the temperatures are within normal range. However, what are the benefits to a lower CPU temperature? If I'm ok with these temps and unlikely to overclock, should I still make it a priority to get an after market cooler?

 

[saint19]

With a lowest temp u get better performance since the CPU don't dissipated to much power and also u get better OC capabilities.

Now if u want OC, a very solid cooler for price/performance is the CM Hyper 212+ I have on and it's amazing.