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Old March 18th 04, 08:48 PM
S.Heenan
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Larry Gagnon wrote:
On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:28:51 GMT
"HPLeft" wrote:

I'm finding that Motherboard Monitor and Fan Speed software give
different CPU temperatures than Asus Probe on an Asus A7V8X-X board.
Basically, the Motherboard Monitor and Fan temps are considerable
lower than Asus Probe - about 5 degrees F. The motherboard
temperatures are identical in all three pieces of software.

I've used the config wizard for Motherboard Monitor, and the preset
config for the Asus board. My guess is that Asus Probe is using a
different setting of some sort.

Any opinions on whether the Motherboard Monitor and Fan Speed CPU
temperature readings are more commonly used than those from Asus
Probe?


Matt: you're not the only one. I have noted differences also between
my NF7-S BIOS reports, my WinXP Hardware Doctor and my Linux Sensors
temperature reports. Your're right - 5 degrees C difference is not
uncommon. I gave up trying to figure out why and now take them all
with a grain of salt. I only worry when my CPU 100% load temp climbs
to 60C or so, which thankfully it never does. I wouldn't loose too
much sleep over it.

This topic is important though - it is rarely discussed and rarely
noticed, probably because most people just believe their one sensor
reporting software - whatever that may be. This newsgroup is filled
with people asking questions about what temps they should expect, and
rarely does anyone ever mention that they do not seem to be very
consistent between the various software and/or BIOS reports.



If you boot the machine and monitor temperatures in the BIOS, temps will
always be higher than read by a Windows based utility. Reason: HLT
instructions. GNU/Linux may do the same, I dunno.

Since there's no easy way to calibrate the system monitoring hardware, users
should take all readings as relative and with a grain of salt. Instability
caused by approaching the max thermal limit shows long before any damage is
done to the CPU. Those who have mounted a heatsink backward or neglected to
use thermal compound may know this.