Confused on the cpu temp (dont know which one to believe/follow by)

[MraK]

Basically this is what I see below:

Idle:
CoolIT Vantage LCD screen: 34c
Bios screen: 40c
Asus cpu probe *in windows*: 38c

Under load (gaming) after 1-2 hours:
CoolIT Vantage LCD screen 47c
Bios screen: 52c
Asus cpu probe *in windows*: 48c

Under load (surfing/video editing) after 1 hour:
CoolIT Vantage LCD screen 41c
Bios screen: 45c
Asus Cpu probel *in windows* 42c

Is my cpu cooler pretty much giving me a wrong reading or giving a reading from a different area of the cpu / bios screen just giving a random reading / or the Asus cpu temp program just being what it is? Should I just add a seperate temp sensor along the cpu area to get a better idea of the cpu temp?

or should I just focus on the highest number as the base temp?

thanks in advance!

 

[Sickamore]

Just download core temp

 

[Zap]

The CoolIt Vantage LCD should always read the same or lower temperatures than anything else. The reason is that it is not checking for your CPU core temperature. The closest it can get is your CPU heatspreader surface temperature. Alternately it could be checking the coolant temperature.

 

[Ben90]

If you have an Intel CPU with a core DTS, the best program is Realtemp hands down.

 

[MraK]

thanks guys! will surely get to downloading the program and see what is actually the most accurate temp, btw since these temps are in the right path of giving me a good enough temp reading, are these temps ok for the cpu with what I'm doing with the rig?

 

[MraK]

The CoolIt Vantage LCD should always read the same or lower temperatures than anything else. The reason is that it is not checking for your CPU core temperature. The closest it can get is your CPU heatspreader surface temperature. Alternately it could be checking the coolant temperature.

yea had that feeling, actually regarding the cooler I also wanted to make sure the cooler was works, since this is the first time I'm using liquid cooling at its basic extent plus it having a LCD give out a temp reading for me to inspect. Based on what you see that I listed, do you think, personally, the cooler is pretty much working? *havent really seen much customer reviews just critic reviews, which made me want to get this*

 

[Rifter]

RealTemp FTW.

 

[MraK]

k, finally downloaded and running Real Temp and and I see a list for all 4 processors regarding Temerature in C degrees and then Distance to TJ Max. Below that it shows the Minimum and Maximum Temp base on the current time.

So looking at this, what should I be looking out for in terms of is my cpu temp ok?

 

[Ben90]

..

Anything below TJmax is fine if you don't mind your CPU's expected lifetime to be "on the other side" of the 3yr warranty period. (meaning 3.1yrs or some such)

The QA engineering that goes into the process development itself is all geared towards ensuring this much just from a minimization of extenuating liabilities standpoint to Intel's books.

There is no single temperature threshold above which your cpu's lifetime suddenly diminishes. It is a continuous function that is dependent on an exponential of the operating temperature thanks to the physics that underlie the Arrhenius equation.

As a rule of thumb, for every 10C higher your operating temps the expected lifetime of your CPU is reduced by 50% (think of half-life). Whatever your expected cpu lifetime is if operating at 50C, call it X years, you can expect that lifetime to be cut in half if you operate your cpu at 60C, so X/2 years, and again cut in half once more if you operate it at 70C, so X/4 years, etc.

That may sound dire but understand the lifetime is engineered into the IC from the "top-down" in terms of the thermal specs. Meaning your thermal spec was set for your chip with the desire to minimize the number of in-field fails that would occur under warranty.

So making the assumption that your CPU has an expected lifespan equal to (really we should assume greater than as Intel would not be silly enough to make the mean of the distribution equal to their warranty period and then have to deal with the entire left-hand side of the distribution failing under warranty) the standard warranty period (3yrs) when operating at TJmax is a reasonable assumption. Then for every 10C below TJmax you operate the chip you should double the expected lifespan.

If TJmax is 90C and you operate at 80C then a very reasonable lower-estimate of your CPU's expected lifespan would be 6yrs (2 x 3yrs warranty period). If you operate at 70C then 2x2x3yrs = 12yrs expected lifespan.

What is the basis for my arguing this? At TI we required our process technology to be developed so as to enable the minimum lifetime requirement of 10yrs operating at max spec'ed operating voltage and max spec'ed operating temps in continuous 24/7 operation. It is SOP for the industry.

Now where you can really cook your goose (cpu) is over-volting and running hot. It doesn't take much to be operating your CPU in a voltage/temperature regime that in combination the two factors contribute to lowering the expected lifespan of your CPU to something <1yr.

Not too mention there is always a distribution to the lifespan and your particular chip could have some intrinsic weakness/flaw in it that puts its expected lifespan at a value below the mean of the distribution and by operating at elevated temps and volts it is destined to fail substantially sooner than the warranty period. (I killed my QX6700 in something like 18 months, never operated above TJmax or above Vccmax, but had lapped the IHS so no warranty replacement for me)