A few days ago I was playing around with the stock heatsink in my case, and it was only after I removed it, looked at it, and put it back, that I read about "Thermal Grease" and what a heatsink does, exactly.  Fearing I had messed up the bond between the CPU and heatsink, I went out and bought some Arctic 5 thermal grease, cleaned up the CPU, and put some on (following directions I read online) and replaced the heatsink.  I have no intentions of overclocking my PC, and it idles and runs games just fine, but when I run the [email protected] program at 50-100% CPU usage, the quad core gets a bit toasty.

I've heard that the Intel stock heatsinks are "decent," but frankly I wouldn't know a good heatsink if you slapped me upside the head with one, and of course, having to buy one, install it, and just "see how it goes" is a rather pricey method of trial and error.  All I know is that the push-pin design of this stock heatsink is attrocious, I wish I could just throw a screw into each corner, rather than wrestle with these cheap plastic pins 

Any suggestions on types, brands, or materials?  My P6T SE motherboard has an LGA1366 CPU socket, manual says it is ALSO compatible with LGA775 CPU fan and heatsink assemblies.  Kind of difficult looking at the heatsinks on NewEgg, as they are broken up into so many category types (Is it good for Slot A? B? A and B? A, B, and C? etc.)  Not concerned with price, they don't seem too steep.  Copper, aluminum, nickel PLATED, air flow, RPM's... blah!For what you are doing, the stock heatsink should be fine.  If you have concerns about how 'toasty' your CPU is, let us know what you are using to measure your temps, how hot it's getting, and what the ambient room temperature is. 

If you'd like a heatsink for the sake of getting a heatsink that has real attachment points and not plastic spikes, then take a look at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185093
It is compatible with your CPU and is a very good heatsink for the price.  It uses a backplate to secure itself to the motherboard, so you will probably have to remove your motherboard to attach it.

Cheers!Ok, have a CMP [email protected] client (50% CPU Usage) and GPU [email protected] client running in the background right now.  This is more taxing than the games I play, and I usually run this 18+ hours a day.

Actual room temp is 21C.  4 Case fans (Stock 80mm in front, stock 120mm on back, added two 120mm on side)
Real Temp:
          GPU: 79C
          CPU: 85-100C on all four Cores.
SpeedFan :
          GPU: 79C
          CPU: 75C-80C on all four Cores
RivaTuner (and Vista Widget):
          Core Temp: 72C
          Ambient Temp: 54C

Been a while since I looked at Intel's specs on the CPU, but I believe they said the recommended running temp was 82C.  I'd be reluctant to buy a heatsink that required the removal of the motherboard, though  Wow, assuming that your monitor programs are calibrated correctly, those are some big CPU temps.  Have they changed since you reseated your cooler? (It's easy to use to much AS5, and too much can make your temps higher.) 

As far as getting another cooler, it can be a pain to have to remove your motherboard, but most of the quality coolers do it that way to ensure a firm mounting without stressing the motherboard more than necessary.  It's possible that you case has a 'hole' in the motherboard tray, allowing access to the area, but that's the only way you can get a backplate installed without removing the board.

I might hold off on CPU folding until we get those temps down.  Your GPU temps look fine, BTW.I checked the stock heatsink again, the A5 on it was actually set in patches.  I think reading all the warnings about not putting on too much scared me off of doing a proper job.  Cleaned it up, applied more using some plastic wrap to smooth it out, and refastened the heat sink.  Temps DROPPED 5C, but it is still up there.  I could always just look at SpeedFan and be happy with the temps, but RealTemp puts out those higher numbers that worry me   

I doubt I'll try tackling a new heatsink that requires the removal of the motherboard, though.  Sounds like a pain.  Guess I'll just play it by ear, see how it goes.With RealTemp, sometimes you have to manually set the TJmax.  Find out what that is for your CPU and make sure RealTemp is using it.  Hopefully, that will diminish the discrepancy.  Cheers!Comp is idling at 45, running games at 70.  I'd be perfectly happy, if I didn't want to push it running [email protected]  Reading up on the i7's, it looks like lots of people have them run hot, and some have said that the stock heatsink is "barely adequate."  So... any easy installation heatsinks out on the market, or am I looking at TAKING off the motherboard to do the deed?  Suddenly the cheap plastic pins don't seem so bad (that and I've taken the darn thing on and off a few times now, so I'm getting the hang of it).I don't know of any that I could recommend as an improvement that use push pins.  The Arctic Freezer is a good little budget cooler with push pins, and they recently announced a socket 1366 revision, but I haven't seen them for sale anywhere yet.I read a nice little heatsink review for the i7.  They did a thorough report on 6 or so heatsinks, really top notch testing.  A small, fairly cheap heatsink was going toe to toe with the big, pricey numbers and holding its own.  When it was all said and done (in the 7 page article) this budget heatsink won.  And ya know what?  It supported easy pin-installation to boot.  Went to go look it up.... not available.  Either not in the US, or not in production yet, not sure which.  Either way, bah, got my HOPES up 

Going to try out that scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000, looks pretty good.  Hopefully it doesn't block any RAM slots.  Can't be worse than the stock HS, and worst case scenario, I take the time to sit down and work with the motherboard a bit (best way to learn, I suppose).Are your fans actually moving air through the case in a proper fashion?

example - sucks cooler air in at the front and bottom, blows it out the back?
If you have a fun in reverse it can help stop airflow and cause higher temps.