I'm no help on either item, but I can't see that running on less than a 4 cores would actually cut the heat much, since after all, each core generates it's own heat. If you want it to run cooler you need to set a parameter on a project site for computing preferences for how much CPU time BOINC can use.

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Is the stock hsf an Intel one, or Acer's design? Either way, is there options in bios for some type of speed control for the fan, you may be able to disable it so the fan will stay on high speed. The Zalman line is known for looks and being quiet, there are better performing hsf's out there for the price. Four cores going flat out crunching will generate some heat, and you've seen that it has to go somewhere. Perhaps adding a front fan and maybe a faster exhaust fan would be an option, to remove the heat from the case, along with a better cpu cooler.

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Co-owner, the Group of 10 100 200 300

Ah, life is much better.  I disabled smartfan in BIOS and man did them fans roar.  Not good.  Speedfan cured the problem once I actually found the help file for the program.  Fan's controlled by smartguardian but problem was couldn't set desired temp below 60C in the BIOS.  Left this morning with CPU fan set to minimum 40% max and case fan 50% max and letting speedfan adjust if things hit 50C.  I set minums higher because the fan cycling was driving me nuts.  Fans will go 100% at 60C.  When I left the house two cores were low 40's and two high 30's crunching on two cores.  Much better than my mid 60's. Noticed the fins of the heat sink are pretty crudded up.  May clean them up and make a filter out of bulk filter material I have.  The CPU fan either sits in or has a tube on top that runs from the side of the case to the fan.

No luck overclocking this ACER MB.  Can't get BIOS unlocked and don't know which clock generator the board uses.  And no AMI BIOS ID string displays at boot.  OH well.

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