Q6600 and Ultra-120 Extreme. Temps too good to be true?

Just built a new system with a Q6600 with G0 stepping and a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme.

Right now I have ambient temps around 20C (68f) and the Abit uGuru app says the processor is at 26C and the system is 28C. This is with the case closed up and the front cover of an Antec P182 closed. I did add a fan to the front intake though.

When I had the case open I was getting temps around 18C-20C. At time the ambient temps were around the same. I put my hand on the heatsink and it was stone cold. No heat whatsoever.

I'd really like to think that it's possible to get low temps like this with only air cooling, that heatsink is a monster, but I'm skeptical. I didn't think it was possible to get close to ambient temps with air cooling.

What I really think is the temp sensor for the processor needs an adjustment. Is it possible to do so?
Are there different means to double check the accuracy?
Maybe I just happen to have a magic heatsink that defies the laws of physics. Perhaps with the correct clock speed I can also travel back in time. That would be cool.


What say you?


EDIT: everything is at stock speeds for now.

Wasn't there something a while back about some Q6600 w/ G0 steppings would misread temps by -10? (i.e. temp is 35c, sensor says 25c) I may be completely wrong, but for some reason it sounds like I heard it before.

Right now my AMD X2 5200 oc'd to 3.1Ghz w/Ultra 120 Extreme is idle at 26 deg C (79 deg F)

Ambient temp in the room is right now 74 deg F

Stock temps at 2.6 Ghz are at 18-21 deg C which is exactly ambient temp.

It is possible, since I've checked with SpeedFan, Everest and nVidia Monitor.

Wow! Excellant sticky.
It looks a bit involved. Apparently I have a bit of a learning curve to get over first. Half way through I got a little drool on my keyboard.
I'll give it another shot tomorrow. It's getting late here and my level of comprehension is low.

I was also reading grayskys sticky: How to Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - A Guide v1.3
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide

In the software section he suggested that the temp monitoring utility that came with his Asus mobo lacked the ability to read multi core temps. I wonder if the same would be true with Abit's uGuru. He suggested using "Core Temp" or "Speed fan" also mentioned in your (CompuTronix) sticky.


What would be the pros and cons of calibrating the software compared to calibrating the actual temp sensor?

The short answer to " Calibrating the actual temp sensor" is no.

Slightly longer answer. To calibrate the sensor you must first know the temperature which means placing the Processor (Unpowered) in a controlled enviroment (ie Temp controlled oven) after a suitable time to reach equilibrium then take a reading. This would be repeated for various temps. From this you would develop a polynomial equation which can be used by software. Could also develop a "Look up table" -

Edited
Computronix - I see you responded while I was typing