Hey Hoot, try this and post your results!

[PDL]

I have been watching my LCD readout for the "injected sensor" and running SiSoft Sandra 2001se. I went to the Memory Benchmark test and to my surprise the temp actually dropped a full degree during the test!! Could this be because the Northbridge is doing all of the work and the CPU goes into an idle mode of some sort??
BTW, this is on an Asus A7V.

[PDL]

Additional weird observation...whatever!!
As I keep an eye on the LCD readout I also noticed a DROP of 1-1.5c when playing Decent 2(the only game I play).
My theory... since the AGP card is doing almost all of the processing, the CPU can slow down and take it easy, so less heat output.
Could this be true?
Is it a benificial accident?

[Hoot]

I could not reproduce your results. Perhaps its the difference in our air systems. I do have a few theories though. First off, you don't have halt-on-idle enabled or you would see the temp go up considerably once you run a CPU intensive program, as opposed to idling in the Windows desktop. Second, listen to your fans. They speed up when you place a higher load on the +5 & 3.3V source, which is normal when running CPU intensive programs. That is because the regulator in your PSU drives harder and the +12 goes along for the ride. I didn't want to go into the PWM explanation again. ;D Now since your fan runs faster, it is cooling your heatsink a little better and that is my guess why your temps drop ever so slightly.

Hoot