AMD Phenom 2 x4 965 heat issue

My 965 is idling with a temp of 68c. Not overclocked. All other temps are normal. Think it might by my sensor, but not sure as my temp is not static. Using stock heatsink and paste.
Any ideas?

Clean the heat sink and fan with a can of compressed air and check temps. If it is still high, replace the stock cooler with an after-market cpu cooler and check temps.

That got me about a 5 degree difference, thank you. Still not comfortable operating at this temperature over the long-term. Ill try a new cooler.

It could be the cooler or it could be the thermal compound. Either a lack of thermal compound or too much of the thermal compound.

Thermal Paste and How To Use It

I'd considered the thermal compound as a possibility. I re-seated my cpu recently as my bios decided it'd be super awesome to decide I have 3 cores instead of 4. I intend to replace the cooler and use an after-market compound. I'm a big fan of overkill. Thanks for the video, and your advice! I'll certainly refer to it when the time comes.

If you took off the cpu cooler, any time you take it off you should reapply the thermal compound. By taking it off and putting it back in you're breaking the seal between the cooler and cpu itself.

I didn't remove it, but had some difficulty getting my cpu off the board. I fear I may have loosened the cooler from it enough to allow air pockets to form. I understand already that my current idle temp is not good. I also have the understanding that this should not be an immediate concern, but I should not allow it to continue for a long period of time.
Thank you all for your input, I'll let you know if a new cooler & compound don't fix the issue.