Skiracer wrote......quote
AMD's technical literature lists the maximum operating temp of the t-bird as 90C! This is insane. The forums consensus maximum temp seems to be around 70C. end quote
Not necessarily insane, maybe just an "apples and oranges" situation.
SS7/K6 chips typically had a spec for Tcase max of 70C, and yes, the spec for Duron and also?? Tbird is Tdie max =90C as Skiracer wrote.
But the physical location of Tcase max = 70C for K6 chips was top center of the K6's metal case. Between that location and the die is the case, a metal heat spreader and some thermal conductive "goop?".
So the max spec for temp of the external surface of the die had to be "higher" than 70C to account for the temp drop of the thermal resistances of the intervening materials.
Since the Duron/Tbird do not have the goop, heat spreader, and case, the external surface for metering Tcase is the external surface of the die. So we should not be surprised at a higher than 70C spec for the differently designed Duron/Tbird. If AMD says 90C, we'll buy that for Tdie max.
BUT, that's 90C read with a tiny thermocouple embedded flush with the heatsink surface at center of chip's surface. And then deduct a few degC for the temp drop across a silver grease interface, or at least 10C or "more" for the white zinc oxide stuff...as it's impossible to make contact with the die surface without having some grease in between the die and the thermocouple bead.
If you're measuring temp "anywhere else", all bets are off as far as knowing what the equivalent Tmax should be at "anywhere else", since
no one knows what the temp drops from Tdie are. That's life...no one said it was easy.
But all is not lost for temps at "anywhere else". If the system runs stable with cpu intensive apps for some period after initial build/boot, then temps "anywhere else" can be used to indicate "change". Worry only if/when they go up dramatically when running your most cpu intensive app/s.
Hope this helps explain the 70C/90C issue and why location/s are very important when making comparisons to spec or whatever.