follow these instructions and look at the pics on the AS5 instructions site when applying the thermal paste. its pritty helpfull. linked bellow
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm
to test your cpu temps... use Prime95, it will stress the cpu using %100 of its cycles... this way you can easily tell beween idle tem and full load. just go to Torture Test under one of Primes tab bars at the top i forget witch. link to Prime95 bellow..
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
What program did you use to read CPU temp? some programs arnt acturate, and somtimes it reads off the rong sensor so you have to manually set it to read the proper temp snesor.
i have tested 3 CPUs so far... a xp3000+, a 2.8celeronD, and a 2.4 P4.
the XP and the Celeron... the temps only rose about 6c when fully loaded. about 38c to 45c
the 2.4 i couldnt get a reading, i dont think it could read the proper temp. it was at about 54 to 56c no matter what, loaded or not. even in bios.
the 2.8 and 2.4 pritty much had the same HSF, a coper core with aluminum fins.
--------------------------------------------------------
Were are all the fan holes currently located on your case?
for the xp3000 all i needed was 2 exaust fans on the back. no including the psu fan.
and the 2.8 only needed 1 exaust fan on the back. not including the PSU fan.
but i did put a side intake fan on both anyway.