@bjjones37:
Yeah, thermal paste is better, although your solution should work. When having problems with thermal transfer, it is quite common that some solid and large enough object has come between causing bad contact, like solid dirt etc. Cleaning it away and using a thin layer of thermal paste as blobrana says would be a good idea. When removing the old melting solution, try not to not scratch the surfaces as that will reduce their thermal transfer ability. Peeling away the most of it with your fingers and then cleaning away the rest with alcohol should keep the surfaces intact.
Other than that - is your cpu heatsink of adequate size, are the case fans directed appropriate? For example, the psu fan and fans at the back of the computer should be blowing air out of the case while fans at the front should be sucking air into the case. Also are there enough air-intake holes of enough size so the fans actually are able to draw any air through the case? You should also check the cable routing so no cables are covering for example the fan on the cpu heatsink.
May I ask what temperature you have in the computer room and what the cpu and case temperature of your computer is?
/Patrik
