HUGE Temp Swings. Normal?

[UTmtnbiker]

Just put in an XP 2000+ with an OEM AMD fan on an ECS mobo. Totally bummed since I had to get rid of my Swiftech MC462 since the ECS mobo didn't have the 4 mounting holes in the circuit board. Before, I was running a MSI K7T Turbo which has a nice little thermistor right under the CPU. Consistently getting around 50C with the MSI program.

Now, with the XP 2000+ I'm using Motherboard Monitor and have set it up to show the 3 diode temps (sensor chip, case sensor, CPU sensor). With my cover on the computer case, get this, 72C, but when I take the cover off, 17C. WOW, huge temp swing between cover on vs. off. My question is two fold...how reliable is Motherboard Monitor and if so...huh? My case has one extra fan in it blowing air in from the front of the case and I can't imagine that little airflow in my case (generic case). Any suggestions?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Motherboard Monitor is highly reliable, since all it's doing is accessing the data that the motherboard sensors are sending it, although sometimes the programmer isn't quite sure how to interpret that data because not all manufacturers document it. It's the sensors and the monitoring chip on the board that are often inaccurate or unreliable. Some boards also don't accurately detect the temperature diode in the CPU core.

It's unlikely your computer would still be working if it reached 72C for the CPU temp. It'd also be pretty damned chilly in your room if the CPU was reading 17C with the open air. Make sure you're using the proper sensor selections in MBM's configuration; some boards have particular sensors that work while others don't, even though they're all based on the same monitoring chip.

If nothing else, you can close the case up, run the system up to what seems nice and hot, then reboot and quickly go into the CMOS setup and look at the hardware monitoring to see what that's reading.

 

[farmercal]

72C = 161F
17C = 62F

That's a hundred degree swing and IMHO not possible. What does your BIOS temp settings read? If they are drastically different then I would have to agree with Lord Evermore that there is a incorrect setting in Motherboard Monitor 5.

 

[UTmtnbiker]

Thanks for the help. I think you guys are right. After fiddling with it some more, I think I got it to work. I'm somewhere now around 45C no load and 52, 53C with load.

Thanks for the help guys.