How much does your CPU temp affect your case temp?

[Calculusaurus]

I've been curious about this question for a while now. The other day I switched my CPU heatsink from stock to the Zalman 7000al-cu and not only did my CPU temps drop (OMG ) but so did my case temps -- about 5 degrees!

Are my case temp sensors just imagining things? What correlation have you seen with your cpu and case temps?

 

[nkcd]

yup, both are very closely related

 

[Calculusaurus]

hehe, i know =P
i just didn't expect such a high drop.

 

[clocker2]

I would be willing to bet that you didn't experience a drop in case temp at all.
Especially if you going by the sensors on your motherboard.

I noticed the exact same phenomonon when I installed the 7000cu, however it was only the board sensor reporting the drop, NOT my hardware sensors.
I believe that the HS, being of such large diameter is flooding the area around the socket ( which is prolly where your "Case temp" sensor is located) and spoofing the reading.

It's nice that your CPU temp dropped though, isn't it?

 

[TBW]

It wouldnt make sense for the case temp to drop with the CPU temp unless the temp drop was due to air flow improvements in the case. If you think about it, the extra heat pulled from the CPU needs to go somewhere so if htere was any case temp change I would guess it to go up slightly. I would guess clocker2 is on to something.

 

[Calculusaurus]

It wouldnt make sense for the case temp to drop with the CPU temp unless the temp drop was due to air flow improvements in the case. If you think about it, the extra heat pulled from the CPU needs to go somewhere so if htere was any case temp change I would guess it to go up slightly. I would guess clocker2 is on to something.

I was thinking about this the other day, and it all seems correct, which leads me to believe that my case temp drops were from some other factor.

I'm using temperature probes that came with my case, by the way. The "system temperature", as reported by my motherboard sensors, was 46°C before I installed the CPU heatink and 41���°C after, which agrees with the drop that my case sensors read. (note: those system temps are likely high due to a faulty bios).