Q9550 on Striker II Extreme heating up, please help

[Murq]

I'm not sure If I posted this message to the right section, so I'll try here for better luck.
Thanks for bearing with me, I'm new on the forums.

I wish that someone could give me some advice on my current problem.

First off, here's my setup:
Q9550
Asus striker II extreme
OCZ vendetta 2 cpu cooler
OCZ ddr3 2gb 1600 MHz platinum
Asus 900 ultimate gamer case
2 x 9800gt
Vista home premium

The "problem" is the heating quad core. Ambient temp is 20'C, case air flow is good. I could also bet my left nut that the cooler is seated right.
None of the parts are oc'd (yet, because of this current issue).
There is no unstability at all and the CPU temp in bios is 31'C.
Asus probe II shows 27 celsius on idle.
BUT it is the core temperatures that I am worried about, here are the temperatures other programs give me:

IDLE

SpeedFan 52, 41, 32, 52
Core Temp 58, 45, 42, 58
Real Temp 47, 47, 32, 35
nvidia system monitor 57, 45, 43, 58

LOAD (prime95)
SpeedFan 60, 53, 50, 60
Core Temp 65,58, 55, 65
Real Temp 55, 55, 45, 48
nvidia system monitor 64, 57, 54, 64

Core Temp sensor test also shows 0 for sensor movement for all cores (stuck?) but this should only mean that idle temps are not accurate, right?

Anyway, what should I do and how big is my problem?
All help is greatly appreciated!
Cheers!

 

[Vertigon]

gee, real temp is usually about 10c lower than core temp but those last number 58/35 sure are wierd. If your ambient is 20c the temps should be alot lower than what they are, even the lowest @32 is high. Let me suggest 3 things to check:

1. Your rpm on the fan should near double from idle to load so check this with speedfan.

2. Often the base plate and the contact area of the heatpipes aren't dead flat, it's expensive to have this face machined to a mirror finish so manufacturers don't bother but you should. Same procedure as lapping the cpu.

3. Damm I can't remember what my third point was lol. Anyhow I know your sure the unit is fastened downed properly but give the 4 legs a bit of a crank in case one of the four pins hasn't completely locked out.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Go by real temp. Get a new cooler if you want to overclock, otherwise be happy.

 

[Grimmy]

Don't take core reading seriously on idle. All apps reading core temps go by a tjmax which is not given to the app from the CPU (Intel does not publish what the tjmax is), and is different on other apps, and why you have different readings.

If you want to OC, you can go by the load temps as a guide perhaps, but I'd go with the tcase reading for idle and load temps. For that CPU, you shouldn't exceed: 71.4C on the Tcase sensor which Probe II shows.

 

[Murq]

Thank you all!

Grimmy, that was exactly what I wanted to know, whether to go with the tcase or the tjmax temps.
So unless I get the tCase temp over that 71'C my cpu shouldn't at least totally fry?

Thanks again!