erratic CPU temps

[pb126]

I just completed a build with a Giga P55-UD4P board and an i7-860. Works fine. I noticed that monitoring with Real Temp, the CPU core temps jump around between 22 and 31 several times a second. Its like a nervous fidget between the two temps. I have the stock Intel cooler on. Do I have a bad thermal contact or something (the dreaded pushpins not seated correctly?). I am running Win 7 32 bit.

[The Wise Monkey]

Try monitoring with a few different programs e.g. SpeedFan, Core Temp etc. to make sure that it is not just a software issue.

[zburns]

I do not believe it is possible for the actual CPU temps to move that quick, as in several timea a second and that range!! Should be software.

[pb126]

WM, I tried Speedfan and CoreTemp and they also showed the temperature jumping intermittently every few seconds between the 20's and the 30's.
Could it be the heat sink placement?

[zburns]

Couple of more suggestions. In your first post, you said "temp moves several times a second", next post "every few seconds". My comment on your first post was that that was way too fast for the CPU temp to move -- you just cannot change the CPU temp 10 degrees C in less than one second.

But when you say "every few seconds", I start to wonder exactly how long the time period is between the changes. So all I am suggesting is to try to be accurate with a statement like this; the temp just cannot move 10 degrees C in one second but in two, three or four seconds, it can move "some" degrees C.

Provided the temp is doing this all the time, I suggest you go into the BIOS to the Hardware Monitor and see what the temp reads there and the interval between changes. Take a ten minute period, and write down the temps, the spread, and the seconds it takes to make a change. Do this several times using the hardware monitor in the BIOS; then get out of BIOS and go back to Real Temp and do the same test. See how they compare.

EDITWhen you are in the BIOS and you do this, you are looking for the relative stability of the temps; there is no reason for them to jump around because you are in a forced idle mode -- the BIOS.

When you leave BIOS and go to Real Temp or other Temp readouts, your computer should be in idle mode, ie just sitting there with the desktop showing. If you are browsing or running an app, you will not be able to "see a pattern you can replicate". If the computer is in an idle mode, there is no reason for the temps to hop around as you say they do.

So you compare one "idle" state, BIOS to another idle state, "desktop" only; no reason for temps to jump around.

There is one other test you can do. While in an idle state, go to Task Manager and look at % CPU usage, should be in the two to four percent range -- again no reason for temps to hop around. If the percent CPU usage stays at very low numbers for a minute or so, temps should NOT move dramatically.

I am suggesting you determine whether or not the temps are "relatively stable" while in "idle" modes. At least that is a starting point.

[zburns]

As I was finishing my post last night late, I realized that the temps you were stating were roughly HALF of my dual core AMD. Immediately this seems to be a flag. Looked for some "reviews" on the 860; an author that I really think knows his stuff is at this link: http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/

The review is 19 pages long, but I was looking for anything that used the word "temps" and that is in there, not sure which page, maybe around page 8 to 12. Anyhow, his test on i7-860 temps: idle was 38 degrees C, 100% full load on CPU, 52 degrees C. That is about double of what you were saying yours is doing at the low end - 21 degrees C.

The reason I asked you to go into the BIOS and look at temps is that (my assumption) the software and hardware is mobo / CPU 100% dependant, meaning Gigabyte and Intel did all the design; lets include the BIOS software writer also, AWARD or whoever does the Gigabyte mobo you have.

The other non-BIOS temps is software from other companies. Certainly they are trustworthy, but in an initial case of trying to determine what is wrong, I would go to "home base" -- meaning the basic manufacturer(s).

I still think the tests I suggested are worth doing; nothing I said stands out to me as a "glaring error in thinking it through". You are looking for a "firm starting point" as to what is wrong.

By the way, the author of Guru3D is very high on the i7-800 series and the 860 in particular.

My comments again. If your rig seems to be running fine, no "screen" glitches or other "small weird things" going on, you may have a minor hardware problem but it may be on the mobo, or software. I would think there is a thermal cutout on the mobo or the CPU which would shut you down at temp overload.

Using google, I did see some vaguely similar described problems on other forums but I did not pay them any attention.

If you, for sure, see the same problem or effect, in BIOS temp monitor, this will prob mean software error from Gbyte or BIOS author. It could be internal to the CPU but I think CPU (and the cooler) being the prob is extremely unlikely.