Temperature Data Interpretation i7 940 / P6T

Hi All,

I have read through some of the data on temperature regulation and have profiled my older E8500. I am more than a bit confused. I need some help interpreting my temperature data for the i7 940. The numbers seem quite odd and there is little or no difference between Tcase and the junction temps. In the E8500 system, they are 15 C apart. I think I have a sensor error somewhere. There are reasons to disbelieve both the Tcase and Tjunction numbers I am getting.


I just put together the following system:

CPU: i7 940
MB: P6T
Mem: 12 GB
Cooler: Xigmatek S1283V (Dark Knight)
PS: 500W Antec
Liberal application of artic silver 5
Careful torquing of the cooler to the CPU
BIOS is run at stock

Prior to the cooler, I had the following temps reporting consistently in AI Suite (Tcase only), PC Wizard (both Tcase and Tjunction), Realtemp (Tjunction only) and HWMonitor (both):

Idle: Tcase=58C Tjunction=58C Full Load: Tcase=77 Tjunction=78 C (prime95). Note that at all times Tcase ~= Tjunction within 2 C.

After installation of the cooler:

Idle: Tcase 40C Tjunction = 41 C Full Load: Tcase= 77 C Tjunction = 78 C.


One last ancedotal piece of data, I can put my hand down on the bottom of the cooler under full load and my guess is the temp there is 30 C. Quite cool actually. I can touch the edge of the CPU bracket, it is quite warm but not unbearable to touch for a minute or so.

The strange things are:

1) Tcase ~ Tjunction at all times
2) The cooler affected the idle temps (dropped by 18 C), but load temps were not affected.

Suggestions on interpreting these numbers as I move forward to overclock? I am not greedy, I would only like 3.3 or 3.4 GHz. I am worried to push forward because I don't really have reliable data.

Thanks for your help and patience.