I just got the confirmation email from SVC on my order . I'm just giddy with joy and can't wait for it to get here.

I do think that after I install my new Megahalems cooler and check my temperatures, I'll finally convert over to RAID-0 and run Windows 7 Ultimate x64 RC until it runs out in June. Dual boot is nice, but I always end up running one OS over the other, so I don't see much sense in doing it. Hopefully SmartDoctor for my EAH4890 works in W7, I'll have...

Well, I've thrown in the towel and decided that whatever my the cause of heat issue, it seems to primarily point back to the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. However great everybody else thinks HDT is, it's not working for me. I'll go with the flat, thin base on the heatsink from now on. I did notice that BenchmarkReview updated their thermal interface material test to 80 from 33 and included method and enthusiast ratings for the TIMs.

I've gone ahead and ordered a Prolimatech Megahalems with...

OK, I'm all confused now. Temperatures are back near normal again, although I do think a 1C change since updating to the 1303 BIOS revision is strange (core temp = ~44-45C ).

I've changed nothing, but I did notice while I was rummaging around in the BIOS that the VCore is 1.481V. I remember having read that the "stock" voltage for this cpu is 1.35V and it's range is 0.875-1.5V, hmm, . I manually set the voltage starting at 1.2V and raised it in 0.025...

Wow, looks like my temperatures are on the rise after this BIOS update. Coincidence? Maybe, but idk, but I kinda doubt it.

Get this, I started up my computer this morning and got tied up doing something else for about 3 hours. So it's idling, right? Should be about 43C like normal, right? WRONG!!! 55C CORE TEMPERATURE!!! ***!!!

It takes 10 minutes of all the fans full blast, including an external fan, to get everything down to what idle temperature was before....

Well what do you know? It worked. I went ahead and corrected my memory to 6-6-6-16 and then ran prime95 for 5.3hours with stable results. Things did get a little toasty at 59C on the core temperature and 55-56C on the CPU.

I still don't know why they are different, on my laptop it seems to be consistently within 1C across the board (although it does have an Intel cpu and not an AMD) , but I do I expect from getting a Dell, almost every single cpu they offer is an Intel....