27C is pretty good. What paste did you use? I have the same cpu, and heatsink with an Epox 9npa+ mobo and my temps are like 32C idle and like 38C load. However, I have some voltage problem(I think), so I had to bump 1.625 volts into mine to get 2.5ghz. I think this motherboard displays voltage incorrectly. I think my 1.625 volts is off by .1 or something, so its really like 1.525. Thats my theory. Which I have yet to test with my multimeter but anyways. Thats probably why my temps are a tad higher.