Q9650 strangeness

dkm777

Senior member
Nov 21, 2010
528
0
0
Greetings folks,

I recently upgraded from an E8400 to a Q9650 and so far loving the ability to do many processing intensive tasks at once but one thing has been nagging me – the temperatures. SpeedFan always reports one core to be at 42 deg. C at idle, while the other cores are ~28 degrees (undervolted and using a fanless Scythe Ninja 2). Under prime95 testing, the hot core doesn’t display a rise in temperature until other cores reach about 40, then it starts rising too and the difference disappears. I reseated the cooler the umpteenth time and it still does this. Do I have a bad thermal sensor? Bad cooler and/or heat spreader surface? The system has been rock-stable both under testing and under normal use, so I guess the processor itself is not defective.
 

mv2devnull

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2010
1,532
162
106
Stuck thermal sensor is my bet. Both core sensors on my E8500 are stuck at "53C" and it takes quite a burning to make them rise.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
Yeah, slightly stuck sensor, nothing to worry about. Idle temps are meaningless, load temps are what you want to worry about.
 

dkm777

Senior member
Nov 21, 2010
528
0
0
Never even thought about "stuck thermal sensor":oops:. Googled around and it seems it's a pretty common thing. The more you know... Thanks for the info, guys.