What's with my temp readings?

[Paneos]

Ok here's the situation:

I just built a new machine with an E6420 on a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 and the stock intel Heatsink/Fan and I'm getting conflicting numbers from from the Gigabyte EasyTune, CoreTemp, and RMclock.

When I first started out I was getting around 50C for the "system" temp and 40C for the "CPU" temp in EasyTune. This bugged me, since I read here about people getting more like 20C or 30C temps. First thing I did was go into the BIOS and turn off the fan control, so they would all spin at full speed all the time. This dropped the CPU temp to 36 or 37. Since I live on the top floor of my building in an apartment with no AC, I thought this was alright. Ambient is something like 85 or 90F (probably more like 85 by the time I did the following tests).

Then I decided to try some new software. I got CoreTemp and RMclock and they both read 72C on each of the cores. CoreTemp also said 85C for Tjunction.

So at this point I got pretty worried. But I noticed that the temps weren't changing at all. I decided to run Orthos for a second to see what happened. Almost immediately the EasyTune CPU temp jumped from 37C to to around 55C ("System" stayed the same). However, the only change in CoreTemp and RMclock was the cores dropped a degree to 71/71. I decided to let Orthos run through the night, and after 7 hours there were no problems and all programs were showing the same temps as when I went to bed. Before I left for work I stopped Orthos, and within a minute EasyTune's CPU temp dropped back to around 40C, while everything else stayed the same.

The machine is off now, and I plan on checking it CoreTemp and RMclock as soon as I start it up. It will have been off for 12 hours, so maybe it should be lower? Or will the minute it takes to start up heat the cores up their usual idle temp?

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Diogenes2]

Is that the Intel HSF ? 70c Is no biggie at 100% both cores and ambient 85 -90F .. That's really pretty good ....
40 idle is O.k. too
Tjunction is where the CPU is supposed to shut down ..

 

[Paneos]

So I'm back home now, and doing more tests.

I started her up and check the temps right away. EasyTune listed 40C for System and 31C for CPU, then over the first few minutes rose to 51C for System and 35/36C for CPU. I checked CoreTemp and RMclock, both read 72/72 since start up (and Tjunc is still 85, but i guess that doesnt matter, thanks Diogenes).

Next I downloaded TAT and tried that out. It reads 72/72 and when I start it at Workload Level 100% my little CPU clock in my Google desktop flys up to 100% (so it's working), EasyTune peaks at a CPU temp of 57/58C (up from 36C) quickly rising over the course of a couple minutes and... and... the core temps instantly drop from 72 to 71 and just sit there..... What is this? How is this possible? A 20 degree change according to the MoBo, but a 1 degree drop according to any program that reads core temps. Oh and as soon as I click stop, they jump right back to 72... what gives...

 

[VirtualLarry]

That's really wierd. It sounds like the DTS (digital thermal sensor) in your CPU is somehow defective. TAT, RMclock, and CoreTemp should only show 72C under load, it should be significantly lower under idle. (Say, 40C or so.)

Given that, I wonder if you are eligible for an RMA to Intel, if you bought your CPU retail-boxed.

I don't think that your temps as measured by EasyTune are anything to worry about though, they seem within the normal range.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

From my own experience (and unless I misunderstand something -- also a possibility), this might not be a faulty sensor. It could be an error in BIOS programming fixable through BIOS updates.