Want to overclock but high idle temps

[BeelzebubUK]

Not sure I can do much with this but seeking any advice.

The current spec is :

Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz
Scythe Mini-Ninja Heatsink + 80mm Sharkoon 17db
4GB (4x1) OCZ DDR2 (rated at 800Mhz I think)
2x Raptor 150GB RAID 0
1x Hitachi 500GB
EVGA 8800GTX 768Mb
Corsair 620W modular PSU

They are housed in a Silverstone LC-20 desktop HTPC case with 2x Sharkoon 92mm in the front and 2x Sharkoon 80mm in the back (all 17db).

Now the problem. My idle is currently hovering around 57-58 degrees using Intel TAT. At full load it goes past mid 70's

With a little extra voltage I had it running at 2.8Ghz but then the idle was into the 60's !!!

My 8800GTX is idling at about 63 degrees as well which I think is fairly high.

I don't want to make it any louder so don't want to add extra fans or faster fans and can't fit a larger heatsink due to the case size. So I'm not sure what else I can do. I know the size of the case is contributing to it but it does have good airflow across it.

My next step is going to take the motherboard out and reseat the heatsink with AS5 as I suspect it may not be sitting flat although its not moving. I'm also fairly sure the Q6600 is the original batch and I vaguely recall there was a lower power version that came out after that which might be more suitable ?

Ideally I'd like to get it running stable at 3Ghz which seems to be a modest overclock for these.

 

[thegoonden]

Definitely something wrong, and you're probably right about it being the HSF.

Depending on the board and it's attitude to vdroop, high idles can be OK, especially with a heatpipe based cooler. If the board allows and manageable vdroop rather than none, and you use heatpipes (which work better the greater the difference in temp from hot end to cold end), idles in the mid 40's may only equate to full load in the low 60's.
But either way, both sets of figures are too high on your rig.

You've tried a few different temp monitors? (core temp/realtemp/mobo-proggy)