ok i have a gateway 825 gm.

this is the mobo. Intel (South Lake) P4 550 800 MHz Motherboard R0

the cpu is a intel p4 550 3.46ghz

thermal compound is arctic silver 5

cpu fan is a sunon 80mm 84cfm

front and rear case fans are sunon 120mm 90cfm

i have a fan controller
idle is at 48-52*C
i would like low 40's for idle ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT!!

your current idle temps are fine and there's nothing you have to be concerned about. plus, you have an oem gateway build. your temps are fine and it's probably still under warranty. messing with the fans would viod said warranty. besides, adding a standard fan will probably result in higher temps, as gateway cases are designed to be run only with a certain fan/heatsink and nothing else.

Check your warranty, see if adding fans will void it. I doubt adding case fans will, or some components, but CPU fans are a touchy grey area I suppose.

But being a large company built comp, I wouldn't be worried about anything inside, they've probably made sure it'll work and last in that particular configuration.

Also, what do you want to acheive with that lower temp?