does anyone even look at software temp readings?
 

Well, I do even though I've been instructed that they are unreliable when sub-zero. It did work good(consistently anyways) until recently. It(pcprobe) would read down to 0 and below with no minus sign down to -10 was as far as I saw............but anyways the last couple days it's been reading 50-60C, but I know it's totally whacked.

I was racing and everything yesterday @ 4.5Ghz/1.5v with a cpu temp of 65C.......... I don't think so. It wouldn't even think about POSTing if not sub-zero at those settings. Anyone ever had a similar experience?

Couldn't tell ya man. I never look.

Heck, I don't even look on the 24/7 water rigs. If it gets too hot to be stable it'll BSOD. And a chip is very very lucky to ever be used more than a year here, so longevity is irrelevant.

Only time I check software temps are at ambient and thats just to check that I have a good mount. So I check my mount probe readout vs software readout and if its not to crazy a difference I assume a good mount is made. run a few load tests to see what the deltas are and then go for the cold :).

when aircooling i usually do this check temps....

and even liquid cooling

and ln2...

to check the mounts...

i always heat up the cpu...to about 60c.....make sure the ceramique or thermal paste spreads to the micro grooves....for max heat transfer

also if the mount is sorta angled....then a temperature difference = delta, for example greater than 10 C....means a remount is in order

They can easily POST and boot at 4.5GHz even at 85C++
The Core i7's in general, and the 980X's especially can do crazy things... like Bingo

The on-die DTS ( temp sensors ) of the Core i3/i5/i7 CPUs are very accurate, and is the closest reading you can get to the exact core temperature.
CoreTemp or RealTemp and you're set.

I only look at them when on AIR or water.

Yeah most mobos or chips work maybe in a range to -40 or -50 so this is pretty much useless if you running DICE or LN2.

My AMD 965BE crashes when I'm racing and the temps go up to ohh say 10C on the software @ 4.5GHz/1.5v. I've watched it happen a few times.

Today after remounting last night, software said -2C first thing and it's up to 29C already and climbing, but the block and coolant are at -29C. It don't add up...I am certain the mount is good and only used a tiny amount of Radio Shack grease. I tested squishing it on there 3 times to get the amount right. When the block is removed there is a very thin quarter sized circle of TIM. It looks perfect to me.

The sensor in my chip is just whacked out......there is no way the chip is at 30C when the block is -28C.

Especially on idle. :D

Running 52C now......block is at -26C.