O'C my i7 920 processor, but temperature is pretty high

i overclocked my process from 2.67ghz to 3.8ghz, i got a i7 920 processor, with dual Ati Radeon 5970's. My processor is Liquid cooled but its idle temperature is at 58C to 63C, is that high for being at a idle state? how high would it go if i play Battlefield 3 with maxed graphics? i got a Alienware Area 51. I'm not sure if my liquid cooling is really working becuase without me O'C the idle temperature is around 48-53C. How can i make sure that the Liquid cooling is working?

ok well, i finish playing some of battlefield 3 at High Graphics, it lagged and spiked a bit, but for the most part it ran pretty smooth, I tried Ultra high graphics but i experience extreme lagg, this game is intense, ull need to O'C your processor to 4.2-4.5 GHZ in order to play at Ultra High graphics.. But besides the point, my average temperature was about 72C-76C while playing, is that normal?

pparks1 said:

58 to 63 at idle is too hot. It sounds to me like your thermal paste might not be applied properly between your CPU and your heatsink.

i doubt is the pasting between the heatstink and my cpu considering that the pc was made from alienware, i had it for a couple of years now, some people said to try to dust out my pc, i haven tried that yet

Also you should clean the inside of the case and just because it is a "Alienware" does not mean it is bullet proof from issues. You ask for solutions so please be polite and do slam the brand name in are faces when we suggest a solution.

Diabolical said:

i overclocked my process from 2.67ghz to 3.8ghz, i got a i7 920 processor, with dual Ati Radeon 5970's. My processor is Liquid cooled but its idle temperature is at 58C to 63C, is that high for being at a idle state? how high would it go if i play Battlefield 3 with maxed graphics? i got a Alienware Area 51. I'm not sure if my liquid cooling is really working becuase without me O'C the idle temperature is around 48-53C. How can i make sure that the Liquid cooling is working?

Do you know what the idle temperatures were when the computer was new? Even 48-53C without overclocking is a little warm, especially for a liquid cooled. My i7 920 with the stock Intel cooler ran around 41C. I rebuilt later with a new case, Noctua cooler and fans and without overclocking this i7 920 idles around 21-23C depending upon the ambient temp.

As others have said, try dusting out the case and all the fans.

Beta said:

Also you should clean the inside of the case and just because it is a "Alienware" does not mean it is bullet proof from issues. You ask for solutions so please be polite and do slam the brand name in are faces when we suggest a solution.

Sorry IF YOU took it the wrong way, but i wasnt trying to show off at all, i was just saying or stating a hypothesis, im not a expert on computers like you guys. I fail to how i was being impolite, i just said i doubt its the pasting problem, they guy i said it to didnt take it the wrong way so why did you..?