System temp vs ambient
 

MBM is showing my 'system' temp as 33-34C [with light useage]. Room/ambient
is 19-20C. Does 13C rise from ambient seem right? MBM indicates a 9-10C
rise from system to CPU. Does that seem right? Outside of the case feels
like same as room temp - i.e, slighly cool.

Case is Antec SLK3700BQE, just 1 rear fan [exhaust]. Also, adding the front
fan [intake] doesn't make any difference in temps - although it seems to
'recover' from temp spikes a little faster.

MSI K7NV, 2600 T'Bred, MSI ti4200, two 7200rpm harddrives, 768mb 333 DDR.
No overclock setting on anything.

thanks

Thus spake Frank Jelenko:

MBM is showing my 'system' temp as 33-34C [with light useage]. Room/ambient
is 19-20C. Does 13C rise from ambient seem right? MBM indicates a 9-10C
rise from system to CPU. Does that seem right?

The big question is, "Where is the system temperature sensor?" The
sensor is likely a tiny surface mount thermistor, and it could be
almost anywhere on the board. I've seen 'em at the bottom-front of the
board (with a reading of near ambient), amongst the PCI slots (5-10 C
over ambient), and between the northbridge and voltage regulator
MOSFETs (20-35 over ambient and occasionally hotter than the CPU).

Look in your board manual, on the illustration of where everything is,
look for TSYS or some such. If no luck there, you can find the general
region by pointing a small fan at the board and looking for a
temperature drop. Or, hanging outdoor probe of an indoor/outdoor
thermometer in front of the CPU heatsink intake will give you a
reliable case temperature.

Regardless, your temps look fine.
--
sls