[wellylug] cpu temperature reported incorrectly

[Brent Wood]

> This might be an issue of where the temp is being read from.
> 
> I think the Athlon XP series have a sensor on the chip itself, which
> is used if the board supports it. Some boards have a sensor directly
> under the CPU. Readings from both can be reported as the "CPU temp".

Pretty much as I unnerstand it. A sensor under the cpu (on the motherboard
instead of in the cpu) will typically read much colder & react more slowly to
actual core cpu temp changes. 

> 
> > I'm putting together a new PC, and I've noticed that the CPU temperature 
> > reported in the BIOS is wildly inaccurate.
> > 
> > On a cold morning, I've turned on the PC, and gone into the BIOS pc health 
> > screen as fast as possible, and the system temperature is reported as about
> > 20C, yet the cpu temperature is a whopping 40C. Thats quite a feat for it 
> > to heat from room temperature (16C) to 40C is less than 10 seconds.
>

Easy, a cpu core of a few grams (if that) trying to dissipate 100w of power
will take milliseconds to heat up a meagre 20C. There isn't much of it to heat
up. 

How fast does the filament in a 6v torch take to start radiating light (& heat)
when you turn it on? (& they are only usually a few watts at most...)

If you are of a mind (note, I'm not recommending this), power up your system
with no cpu fan & watch (or hold a finger on) the cpu. You'll find it cooked
(to the charred stage internally) in milliseconds & VERY hot to the touch
within a second :-) Hopefully the motherboard won't get taken out with it....

Tom's Hardware did a cpu burnout test a year or two back, just before AMD
introduced the thermal cutout in the Athlon cpu, & just after Intel did....
might still be there to read.


Cheers

   Brent