Which one to believe? I'm fairly new to OCing and have had my processor up and stable to 4.2ghz at 1.375 vcore with Real Temp reporting core temps in the 58 - 60c range under load, which seems fine. But Core Temp consistently reports 10 degrees higher, which makes me nervous and Speed Fan and AI Suite are about in the middle. Right now I'm not comfortable with any of them.My system is FS9 dedicated - nothing else -- I'd like to know what fellow flight simulators use and recommend so I can be confident I don't fry my CPU.Thank you.

I settled on Core Temp (get the latest one) although SpeedFan reports the same temps for me.The man with 2 watches never knows what time it is.Fred

RealTemp uses a TjMax of 95

So what you're saying is Real Temp is the correct core temp? I guess I don't understand -- I mean I thought I understood TjMax, but 60 degrees c is 60 degrees, right?

Have a look here: http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/docs.phpRegards,Jim Karn

Thank you, Jim. I saw that earlier, and although it may be clear and concise to you, it was part of what prompted me to ask what flight simmers "use". I uderstand it, but I guess my question wasn't as cut and dry as I thought it would be. But at least I know where I'm gong now.

IIUC none of them are "correct" and there is no spec on max allowed cpu temp anyway that these programs might measure, so I believe they should be used as relative indicators only. If you want to set a personal limit of 70 or 75 or 80 on tool X, then fine, but I don't think you can make any claims about how that affects the probabilility of decreased CPU life. I think that in essence is what that above linked page is saying -- he is trying to calibrate his temps but I don't think you can prove the correctness of the calibration.scott s..

>>IIUC none of them are "correct" Right, I see that now and thank you Scott -- and Jim. I'm much more comfortable now with what I'm seeing.

As the article said, Tjmax is the Max Tj. Tj is still Tj. The confusion occurs when the difference between an actual Tj and a measurement program's preset Tjmax is used. That "delta" (difference) temp will be bigger (higher) if a program uses a higher preset Tjmax.Don't use any measurement program's delta function. Read Tj directly. For the 65nm core2s, the CPU will begin throttling at 95C Tj. It will shut down at 100C Tj. In No case will the CPU suffer damage. That's why the autothrottle and autoshut down functions were built in. Intel got tired of server farms killing CPUs. Now Intel just gets Low performance complaints as undercooled CPUs bang away into these failsafe limits.We gamers treat these CPUs like coddled lap-pups rather than the standup working-dogs they really are.

Hey Chuck, what do you see for NB voltage and temp at your normal speed of 3.8GHz? Regards, Jeff

Hey, Jeff! Tonight I'm running at 4.0 mhz (3.990.2) and I'm at 1.328v. I've got it set to 1.375 on the MB for now, my temps are pretty consistently around 67 - 70 under while simming, according to Core Temp.

. . . and my NB is still set to auto!

Thanks Chuck, I just wanted to check to see that what I was seeing was in the ballpark. I'm running now at 4.004GHz and my memory is running at 1130MHz! VCore bounces between 1.38 and 1.40. CPU temps are 32c idle and between 42c and 46c under load. My NB gets the hottest. About 61c idle and between 65c and 68c under load. BTW, I owe you a huge apology. I was hunting for an e-mail that someone sent me and I found it had been directed to my spam folder. At the same time I noticed that I had an e-mail from you in that same folder. I don't know how that ended up there. I actually found several others I hadn't known about as well. All I can do is say I'm really sorry and I hope it didn't leave you hanging. How did things work out with the fan?Best Regards,Jeff*EDIT* Did you adjust the TJMax in Coretemp down to 95C? Based on some tests I've seen this will give more accurate readings. Just a thought.

>>Did you adjust the TJMax in Coretemp down to 95C? No, I just left everything the way it came for now - Those temps I gave you are from Core Temp; and, as you suspect the RealTemp numbers are about 10c lower than those.>> BTW, I owe you a huge apology. It's OK, Jeff. Thanks for clearing up what happened and for your help in the beginning anyway! (I'd hoped it was something like that and I hadn't asked one q too many!) My new sytem ended up modeled based mostly on your specs. FYI, I returned the Zalman and bought a Thermaltake TMG i 1. It seems to be working fine, but that nVidia card churns out such heat inside the case! I've installed 3 additional case fans (a front, a PCI Slot Fan blowing on my GPU, and an adjustable stick fan cooling the NB and SB), and also have a small Vornado personal fan blowing directly on the new computer to keep the cool air moving air around both systems -- it's loud but man it works great! And you were right about the MB and the CPU -- overclocker's dreams.I'm still haunted by the thought that maybe I missed something on how to install that Zalman, though. I just couldn't figure out how to fit the heatsink onto the CPU with the NB and SB cooling fins arranged so closely! :-eek

Glad there's no hard feelings.>FYI, I returned the Zalman and bought a Thermaltake TMG i 1. >It seems to be working fine, but that nVidia card churns out>such heat inside the case! I've installed 3 additional case>fans (a front, a PCI Slot Fan blowing on my GPU, and an>adjustable stick fan cooling the NB and SB), and also have a>small Vornado personal fan blowing directly on the new>computer to keep the cool air moving air around both systems>-- it's loud but man it works great! >That's exactly why I bought the case I have. It comes stock with a 12cm fan in the middle of the case blowing over the GPU. It has vents on both sides to draw cool air in instead of through the hot drive bays. Including the PSU I have seven fans in this case, all 12cm, and the system is quieter than the old, one fan P4 it replaced. Are you using RivaTuner? It's an alternative to using NVidia control panel. You can control the GPU settings including the fan speed. I found that my GPU came from the factory set at 50% fan speed. With Riva, you can bump this up. Set it up high, 90% or so, and it will even knock a couple of degrees off the MB temp. Nice perk huh? >I'm still haunted by the thought that maybe I missed something>on how to install that Zalman, though. I just couldn't figure>out how to fit the heatsink onto the CPU with the NB and SB>cooling fins arranged so closely! :-eek I'm still haunted by the thought of a particular date I had in my senior year of HS! :-erks Some things just don't heal, do they? :-lol Don't feel so bad. I didn't build this myself so you're still one up on me.Have a good one! :-beerchug Jeff