What temperature is my mobo reading?

[kyu614]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows what temperature MSI boards read. I have a MSI KT3-Ultra2. Is the temperature reading the actual core temperature or the temperature around the chip. In either case what are some safe levels for the core and the surrounding temperature? My temperature now is 40-44 C for an AMD 1800 with retail HSF and Artic Silver 3. Thanks for any info.