Some advice, please....

Hi

I was reading all the sticky threads posted, and sounds like you guys actually know what you're talking about. I'm wondering if any of you can help me.

I'm having some problems trying to determine my actual temperatures. I have the Thermaltake Hardcano 12, I just bought it around a week ago. I followed the instructions in placing the sensors at the most effective places. I dont think that one of the sensors (the one for my CPU) is at the most effective place, but I have the Zalman Cu7000A HSF and I dont know where exactly to place the sensor.
Anyway, The Hardcano 12 says my CPU and case temperatures are 30C and 31C (at idle, like right now), but when I check Sisoft Sandra, it says my temperatures are 38C and 39C. I installed Speedfan, and that says Temp1: 37C, Temp2: 38C. When I go into my BIOS, it says my CPU and board temperatures are at 48C and 51C. My BIOS always shows it like that for some reason, I dont know why.
This confuses me greatly...which one is more accurate, Sisoft/Speedfan, my BIOS or the Hardcano? And if it's the Harcano thats off, which I'm guessing it is, how can I make the temp. monitoring more precise?

Any input would be appreciated...

Thanks.

What motherboard do you have?

I have the MSI Neo2-PIFSR I865PE motherboard for socket 478.

And if it helps, I have an Intel P4 2.66 @ 3.12.

Thanks for the reply.

nice and detailed post, however could you post your room (ambient) temp. Also run prime 95 and see how the temps change. Your Hardcano is already wrong, so just ignore it for now. The disturbing fact is that the bios disagrees with the 2 programs. When they should in theory agree.

Thanks for the welcome and the reply, guys.

Okay, so I checked Sisoft and Speedfan and it showed my temperatures at 42.5C for the CPU. I then restarted and went into my BIOS, where it showed my temperature to be 45-47C (it was at 45, then it went to 47, and back down to 45). So I dont know if I read it wrong the last time, but is this still right?

When I rebooted, I ran Prime95 for 15 minutes. When I checked Sisoft and and Speedfan at my CPU temperature went up to 54C and seemed to stay there (Hardcano reported something different, 35C)...

My room temperature is around 25-28C, atleast it feels that way. Sorry if I cant be any more accurate than that, I have no idea what the actual temps are.

Thanks.

ok I think the best answer would be to average the results. What is the bios temp immediately after priming for 15 min? I think it will be higher like 60s. Anyway you turn it your temps are borderline to dangerous (bust out your credit card and read my sticky)

Okay, so I ran Prime for around 10 minutes, and rebooted. Went into my BIOS, and it showed my CPU temp was at 52C.

I'm starting to get really confused here...

I'm surprised my temps havent improved at all. Not according to the BIOS anyway. I bought the Zalman Cu7000A around late-March. A friend of mine helped me put it in, and he said that you dont need to put more thermal paste on since it already has some from the stock cooling. My BIOS showed the same temperatures during that time. I go on vacation, come back, and around two weeks ago take the Zalman off and put in Artic Silver 5. I thought it would help my temperatures go down. Apparently it hasnt made a difference...

Maybe I put the paste in wrong? Would it be advisable for me to do it again right now? I have some more AS5 lying around...

Thanks for the help...

did you follow the instructions on the AS5 website??? Also are you sure you mounted the hs correctly??? Ask your friend to help you install it again, it may help. Also what is your case fan setup?

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

Start at step 10 for Intel....After you read the top part about cleaning...

Okay, I definitely did do it all like Artic's website says....

Thanks for the link, I think I'll do it all over again, if it will help.

I'm sure I mounted the HSF correctly though, just like it says in the manual.

As for my fan setup, I have two 80mm in the front (intake) and two 80mm fans in the rear (exhaust). Is this right?

EmbeddedBarcode, This is a known problem with MSI's bios .

it seems that the MSI engneers have a hard time calabrating the BIOS for both a Prescott and a northwood

One time they will put out a release that reports northwood temps right and the prescotts are out of wack
then they release another version that has the Prescott correct and the northwood temps are off

They just cannot seem to get it right

Use the temps that Speed Fan reports as that is what the rest of us ( the members of the MSI forums) use .

Go over to the MSI forums and do a search and you will see what I mean

The latest Bios for the PCB revison 2 boards ( Bios3.9) really has everyone in an uproar

Hope this helps

Dave

Your fan directions are good..Have you removed the fan grids from the case? These are the restrictive grids that are infront of or behind your case fans. Removing them increases air flow and reduces noise..
It would appear that it's your mobo as discribed above..

So I guess I'll just dismiss my BIOS temps altogether, thanks for the input on that Dave.

Time to do some changes to my case, I suppose.

Thanks for all your help, guys. I really appreciate it.

OML what a cool forum

Well this has got te be the most helpful forum that I have ever been on.
Everyone that posted here was just aching to help this guy out and thats really a change from some other forums I've seen.

Props to everyone in this thread.