Insocket Thermsistors

How accurate are they? Wouldnt they be pretty close to the same as using a compunurse because they are touching the bottom side of the processor? I want to know if i can save a few bucks or if i really need to get a compunurse to get near-accurate temps. Thanks

Uh, well...they're not what I would call very good. One of the links in my sig shows how bad they are...

Of course, the question is whether your mobo uses it or not. Some of the new ones will read the on die temp for ya. I just don't know which ones they are.

On-die temps ARE more accurate.
Add-on thermal sensors can be more accurate (when installed right.)

In real-life do you really need to have that accurate a temp reading? Or is knowing the normal range for your pc good enough?

I have a DigiDoc5 on my H2O rig, and it does tell temps more accurately, but I know the ranges of all my Seti Farm rigs.....

It really doesn't matter to me what the reading says as long as I know where instability starts rearing its ugly head and can keep temps well below that.

Okay then maybe I'll save the money, and try to get a better PSU instead.

Uh, pardon my stupidity, but how does an on-die temperature probe work? Is it inserted between CPU and HSF so that it touches the die?
My socket temp thermistor does the trick, but how big of a differencial is there between socket and on-die?