Quote Originally Posted by ArCElM View Post
Remember longevity is an issue also, there has to be SOME weight to the mentality that, your CPU is HAPPIER and healthier when kept at a nice 60-70C rather than running it at 75C+ daily..
You would think so but Intel doesn't seem to agree. They offer a full 3 year warranty on their chips and have designed them so they can run reliably up to the point where the DTS = 0.

As an output, PROCHOT# (Processor Hot) will go active when the processor temperature monitoring sensor detects that the processor has reached its maximum safe operating temperature.

Intel's definition of the PROCHOT# signal clearly shows that you can run your processor right up to TjMax and you are still operating it safely. If it wasn't safe to operate a desktop C2D at this high a temperature then Intel would lower TjMax and not let users run their processors so hot.

The processor contains Digital Thermal Sensors (DTS) distributed throughout die. These sensors are implemented as analog-to-digital converters calibrated at the factory for reasonable accuracy to provide a digital representation of relative processor temperature.

"Reasonable accuracy" means that CoreTemp and other programs shouldn't be using this data to report an exact absolute temperature because the sensors themselves are not exact.

They provide reasonable accuracy of relative processor temperatures. That means if DTS=40 at full load and then you slap on a different cooler and DTS=50 then your processor is running approximately 10C cooler. If DTS=40 during the winter and then becomes DTS=30 in the summer then you'll know that your CPU is running about 10C hotter during the summer. It provides relative data to the factory set throttling point for your individual processor and shouldn't be used when comparing absolute temperatures from one processor to the next. Intel doesn't even document that TjMax is a fixed value across the entire E8x00 line so why is temperature monitoring software assuming that it is?