Ok mate, even if the room temp is 27, if you have something which is inside its own box behind a fan that is constantly on, then the tempreture inside will be lower than on the outside. But that is extreemly low; mine runs at 48c!!
Yeah thanks for the helpful replies. I checked the BIOS, and this time said it was at 30 C while the software monitor said 21 C. So somethings screwy with the software.
Nubius lives by this rule: There are no such thing as accurate Athlon temp monitors. There's obviously something wrong with your temp probe and you should definetly not rely on the reading.
I had the same problem, except that the temps were really high (60C).
I purchased a couple of temp/fan controllers (Logysis and AeroCool) that had temp probes. After installing these in 2 different Rigs and placing the probes so that they contacted the edges of the CPU and GPU my temp readings were much more reasonable.
The Logysis costs about US$20 and can monitor 3 temps and control 3 fans.
Or, you could borrow a Fluke temp reader and verify that way.