Temperature Sensor

So I'm building my watercooled PC. It's a very simple CPU only loop. I'm not OC'ing, I'm going more for quiet operation.

However, the PC isn't going to have a console. I'm going to be installing Linux and using it as a general web/email/media server. So I'll be running it 24/7 and I'll be not monitoring it on a regular basis. I'll probably setup a cron job to look at the acpi cpu temp, but I also purchased this bay device which has temperature sensors:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=25759

I have a Core i3 CPU with the Apogee XT block. The motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2.

Any idea how I should place the sensor on the CPU so I get relatively close and accurate temps? I've seen all sorts of suggestions on the web, with the closest one to watercooling suggesting placing it on the back of the motherboard which confused me. How do you do that without shorting out the board?

You wont be measuring anything accurate. Core temps are the most important as they measure hot spots, and why intel went with DTS sensors. Best you can do is approximate Tcase, which at full load will be 15-25C lower on your 73W i3 CPU than core temps. But you cant even approximate casing temps unless you can place it in center of IHS, where it will then impede attachment of heatsink, so you then have to mill a channel in IHS of cpu.

So if core temps is say 78C on load, IHS temp maybe 58C (variable depending on TDP), and socket temp maybe 50C (variable again), and the best you could do with an external sensor is socket temp, unless you are willing to mill a channel into your cpu IHS and attach it. But to even monitor socket temp, you need some thermal grease/adhesive to attach sensor...but socket temps are not that useful.

There is software available for accurately monitoring core temps in linx, which is the only temps that are useful anyways.

Thanks, I ended up splicing my water temperature sensor with the wire that had the CPU sensor. Now I'm getting the water temperature which should be more accurate at telling me the change in temperature in the system, which is really all I wanted to know.