Phenom.. most "trustworthy" temp gage?

[chado]

So i just finished building my 1st system: Phenom 9500 in an M3A board (bios 406), and am a little worried about my CPU temp readings. I should state that i am running an old windows install until my new CD drive arrives, as i'm pretty sure this is the origin of most of the problems i've had so far. The hardware monitor @ bios says i'm running at 59/60 C at cold boot, which i think is bad if accurate. To the touch, my heatsink (stock) barely feels warm at this reading (perhaps i'm a fool for thinking thats indicative of actual CPU temp), and amd overdrive tells me i'm at 45C idle. Is there one particular source i should trust? I've a hunch that its maybe a crapshoot until i reinstall the OS, but am afraid of damaging stuff due to ignorance in the mean time. Any opinions/thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Daveburt714]

Chad, I know I'm new to this board too...

But if your trying to go from an AMD X2 to Phenom without reinstalling Winblows your probably going to have all kind of Problems!!

This has been pretty reliable for me:
http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php
Thanks KTE!!

If you can touch it and it doesn't feel hot, you have one of two problems...
Either you need to make sure the CPU HSF is set right, everything is snug and it doesn't wiggle easily (easily being the key word!)
If all that seems to be OK...

Option 2 would be... You really need to do a fresh install of your OS!!

Fingers work man!! If the HSF is seated well and a sensor says it's 60c touch it by the base... You'll will definetly know it's warm!!

[Lightman]

BIOS readings can be bogus because temperature is read from external sensor located somewhere in the socket. AOD is reading temps from internal CPU diode and as far as I saw is most accurate. Previous AMD processors based on K8 core had quite a big reading variations between CPUs (+/- 30C), but Phenoms are properly calibrated and readings are accurate

Still 45C at idle is very high. My Phenom with C'n'Q disabled and OCed to 2.4GHz is idling at 28C.

Best advice, as said above, is to refit cooler. You will need thermal grease at hand, because before refitting radiator you need to clean it and CPU from old material. Do not install Cooler with same thermal compound twice!

[MorLipf]

When I run Prime95 on my Phenom 9500 the temp sensor of the Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DS5 for the CPU shows 54°C. But all core temps are at 44°C. I am using a Zalman CNPS9700 NT. Why is there such a big difference?

[chado]

Thanks for the info While playing COD4 with everything maxed my core temps are near 50C and TMPIN1 is over 60c (whatever TMPIN1 is). Something is wrong.. think i'll let the system sit as much as possible till i can increase cooling and reinstall windows. How dangerous IS 50c core temps, anyone know?

[Lightman]

Thanks for the info While playing COD4 with everything maxed my core temps are near 50C and TMPIN1 is over 60c (whatever TMPIN1 is). Something is wrong.. think i'll let the system sit as much as possible till i can increase cooling and reinstall windows. How dangerous IS 50c core temps, anyone know?

It's still tolerable
Up to 60C is OK, over that you might get some stability issues.

[Postal Dude]

The lower core temps than reported total cpu temp is because its reading from two sensors. the core temps are the cpu's internal diodes reading, the total cpu temp is an external sensor that might not be entirely accurate.

50c shouldnt be too bad for any cpu really. If you notice it starting to throttle badly or suffering from thermal shutdown then you will know its too hot. Like the previous guy said, reseat your HSF with a fresh dollop of TIM, reinstall windows and maybe update your mobo's bios. Should sort you out. If you do all that and your still gettin stupid high temps then i dunno what could be up.

[chado]

thanks people