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Temperatures dont mean anything! (Relatively speaking)

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jchsatx09

Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2005
Location
Texas
Everyone who reads stuff in this forum has seen it over and over again. People always post their idle and load temperatures. But, temperatures are all relative. Of course, peak max load temperature is still very important, but my point is that your temperatures all depend on your room temperature.

Lets take this for example. Assume your room temperature, also known as ambient temperature, is 25C or 77F, and your CPU idle temperature is 35C. Also assume your max load temperature is 47C.

So in this instance, your idle temperature is 10C above room temperature (ambient). And, your load temperature is 22C above room temperature.

Now lets say its 68F in your room. 68F = 20C. We are still talking about the same computer with the same configuration, but suddenly your temperatures look much better. Now you have an idle temperature of 30C, and a maximum load of 42C.

So, why do people always post their temperatures when then are so relative? Doesn't it make more sense to say, "Idle temperature is room temperature (in Celcius) + 10C, and maximum load temperature is room temperature + 22C." So, if you do post your temperatures, make them mean something.

No ones house is a constant temperature controlled environment. Temperatures constantly fluctuate up and down, and sometimes significantly. Even the time of day affects the ambient temperatures and therefore your case and CPU temperatures. If you start watching your ambient temperatures compared to your PC temperatures, you can learn alot about what puts stress on your computer (i.e. gaming, video encoding, etc.)

Comparing ambient temperatures to case temperatures is very important. If you notice that your case temperatures are 8C - 10C or more above ambient, then you more than likely have an airflow issue (credit to mtb856.) With proper planning and air flow management (i.e. cable routing, fan placement) your case temperatures should hover just a few degrees C above ambient. Keep in mind that airflow is important with water cooled systems as well. Because waterblocks replace the fans used in air cooling, you can end up stagnant air, and therefore warmer case temperatures, which in turn raises CPU temperatures.

Motherboard Monitor 5 is a good all around PC health monitor, and can be found here: http://mbm.livewiredev.com/. MBM5 can be set to run as a system tray icon, so you can constantly monitor your temperatures.

If have a digital room temperature gauge that can be switched from F to C, it is easy to monitor ambient vs. CPU temperatures. If not, you can convert C to F, or F to C using Google. Just type "77F = ?C" (no quotes) and click search. This also works vice versa.

The formulas for converting between C and F are:
F = 1.8C +3200
C = (F - 32)/1.8

My idle temp is room temp + 12C, peak load is room temp + 28C with rig in sig with no case fans running.
 
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Yes, room temp is a big variable, however the differences in how mobos read temps is an even bigger one. Some read low and some read high, and some like my msi read either depending on what it feels like reading. The temps really only mean something relative to your system. They are a good general quide for overclocking and need to be monitored. As for comparing between systems they are meaningless.
 
You this is the same fact I came up with about a year ago.
You can see that some of the older posters here post their ambient temps.
I was one of the ones who initiated this theory and it seemed to catch on for a while.
I do suggest that this could be sticky material
 
rseven said:
Yes, room temp is a big variable, however the differences in how mobos read temps is an even bigger one. Some read low and some read high, and some like my msi read either depending on what it feels like reading. The temps really only mean something relative to your system. They are a good general quide for overclocking and need to be monitored. As for comparing between systems they are meaningless.

Good point. It makes you wonder why they can't (or rather don't) make mobo sensor more accurate. After all, monitoring temps and voltages is somewhat important, especially for non OEM (i.e. enthusiast) boards.
 
squirtle632 said:
You this is the same fact I came up with about a year ago.
You can see that some of the older posters here post their ambient temps.
I was one of the ones who initiated this theory and it seemed to catch on for a while.
I do suggest that this could be sticky material

Got a link to the old thread...I would like to read it.
 
It is too old. I tried to search for it but cannot find it. When I searched for "ambient" in the cooling section, I got more than 500 post and the earliest one was one about 8 mos ago.
 
Since I am starting to use watercooling and my ambient temps vary quite a bit, due to my unheated room and the irresistable urge to dump ice in my res, I just post my temperature difference.
 
Yeah, most older members will post room and case temp along with their idle and load..... that carries the advantage of helping us troubleshoot cooling problems, because if the case temp is 10°C above the room temp, you obviously have some cooling issues inside the case rather than with your HS.

Here's mine though, aircooling (Thermalright SLK-948).

Ambient: 18°C Case: 23°C Full Load: 40°C (this is with an Abit board that reads temps high) :D
 
jchsatx09 said:
Everyone who reads stuff in this forum has seen it over and over again. People always post their idle and load temperatures. But, temperatures are all relative. Of course, peak max load temperature is still very important, but my point is that your temperatures all depend on your room temperature.

>>>>>>>>>>

Exactly why I always include my ambient temp as well. :)
(see sig)

Case temp is the same since I run my OCing rig without a side panel and
12" table fan blowing on high. ... "Function before Fashion!" :attn:
 
Well, i'm in Texas, and it is cold outside now (it is 64F.) My room temp is 78F now.
 
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Yeah, it's about 65°F in our house all the time......... sometimes colder in the winter b/c our mom likes frigid temps. One morning she totally forgot to turn the heater on and it was like 48 degrees in our house :eek: man that was cold.
 
Overall it all depends on what chip. On AMD heat really isnt an issue. However on a prescott, 10c* could mean the difference between 4.0 and 4.3ghz
 
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