[Solved] Core Temperature

So I'm getting all four cores of my core i7 920 overclocked to 3.8 between 31 and 33 C on idle. VCore is at 1.25. The first core is always the hottest at around 33 C, second core 31 C, third core 33 C, and fourth core at 32. They all fluctuate within themselves by about 1 degree Celsius. My question is whey the fluctuate even that much between each other? Why is the second core cooler than the last core? I thought I put my thermal compound on perfectly - Arctic Silver 5 and I have a Noctua NH-U12P SE2 for a cpu cooler. Is temp fluctuation caused by thermal compound or is there no way to get all cores running at the same temp. I believe the first core will always run a tiny bit hotter, but i'm just wondering. I'm also wondering if I can get my cpu to run under 30 C on idle using my cooler.

There will always be a slight difference between the core temps. Idle temp means nothing at all, run Prime95 or IBT or OCCT and see what your 100% load temps are. They are all you need to be concerned about.

Can't tell much on idle power. At 3.7 Ghz, my son's vcore is 1.125 Use OCCT to torture test and record those values....Prime95 (small FFT's) will be 1 or 2 degrees higher. Also go easy on AS5 till it cures....and yes, 1st core usually hottest and 304C between hottest and coolest.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index. [...] mitstart=5

Here is the Arctic Silver 5 recommended cure time instruction from the manufacturers web site:

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AC5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation

I have been using AS5 for years and I have never noticed a significant change in temps after the stuff cured.

Strings, when you reseated, did you clean the old stuff off before adding new AS5?

Best answer selected by Strings.