Is this normal?

[wespash]

Hi all, just started getting into OC'ing my PC. Never really checked my temps before this because I bought a cooler master haf 932 tower and a nice fan for the cpu and never had any problems so never bothered. Anyway.

Couple of questions. I just OC'd my Q9550 quad core from 2.83-3.54 and my temps are idle:
Core0- 40
Core1- 34
Core2- 36
Core3- 32

These are good idle temps correct? But most importantly why is there such a temp variation between the 4 cores?

Running Prime95 i was receiving even bigger variations as my high temp/core.

Core0- 70
Core1- 62
Core2- 64
Core3- 58

Now i do not know if i will ever run a game/app that will push my quad that much (although i plan on playing FFXIV on release and supposedly it is going to be the Crysis of MMO's, but who knows) but is this pushing it? I believe on the intel site it was rated for 71.5C or something but is this something i should be concerned about?

So basically, Are these temp variations normal and should i think about tuning down my cpu?

Specs:
Q9550 quad core @2.83 (3.54)
EvGA nforce 790i SLI FTW mobo
Kingston 4gb (2x2g) DDR3 Ram

 

[ksampanna]

Both idle & load temps are definitely on the higher side. Which cpu cooler do you have do you have?
Variations in core temps do occur, but I've never seen a range that matches yours, especially in load.
Are you sure you've dialed the min req voltages for the clock speed? Is there any chances to reduce them further?

 

[wespash]

Thanks for the reply. Yes i still need to fiddle with the bios a tad bit more to try and hit the sweet spot but not sure if i can drop the voltage down anymore. But will definately try tomorrow on that.

As far as the cooler, i can not for the life of me think of the brand. Was the only part out of my custom build that was given to me by a friend. Will remember tomorrow though im sure lol. I am sure i can upgrade this as this build is over a year old and was a cooler a friend took out of his to upgrade his PC.

I know the load temps are a tad pushing it but you think idle is high as well? I'm still a novice to all this so am learning. Current idle
C0 38
C1 33
C2 36
C3 31

edit: i know this isnt the GPU section but maybe someone can tell me this instead of making another post. If a gpu needs 500w PSU to run and you SLI the cards. What kind of wattage do you need for sli? it isnt 1000 is it?

 

[ksampanna]

[1] Idle temps are a bit high, but maybe not something to be overly worried about. With further fine tuning, you should be able to drop atleast 3-4 C averaging across the cores.

[2] The power requirement of a GPU is given for the entire system. So the 500 W recommendation of a GPU is for the entire system. In that case, for SLI, you don't need 1000W. 650-700 is good enough. Mind you, we are talking about good quality PSUs.
Most of the GPUs themselves consume less than 200W, very few go beyond 200 (gtx 480/470, HD 5970)

 

[Mannakin]

I'm pretty sure that a variation in the temps is due to inaccuracies in the baseline of the temperature sensors. Some monitoring tools allow you to apply an "offset" to each individual processor to make them report a more "matched" result. I've done this on my quad core at idle.

The absolute temperature at idle would of course be affected by the case/room temperature.

 

[wespash]

Thank you very much for the info guys. And thanks Ksamp for the info regarding wattage for running in sli. I know i could have did more homework on that and figured it out, i just figured i might as well ask since i started a thread already So, sorry for being lazy on that part.

 

[wespash]

Best answer selected by wespash.

 

[ksampanna]

Doesn't matter, we all do get lazy sometimes

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey