Maximum PC

Hey all,

Just installed a new Core i5 in the mobo mentioned. Everything is working very well so far, and have even been playing with some overclocking. I noticed that in the BIOS, the board is reporting CPU temps at 58 - 60c. However, in Windows, I'm seeing much lower temps across 3 programs (Core Temp, SpeedFan, and Real Temp). Temps in Windows are reporting no higher than 40c on each core. I checked the heatsink, and it appears to be mounted properly, and I used AS5 prior to setting the heatsink. Some burn in time is required yet, but the temps the motherboard is reporting seem a little high. So I'm wondering, should I be nervous? Or should I wait for a BIOS update to see if temps are updated?

I just bought a Core i5 2500K today. I couldn't resist. It was selling for $149 at Fry's.
I'm getting back an H67 chipset motherboard from Intel in a couple of weeks. I finally sent back an unused board with the SATA ports 2-5 defect.
So, I'll keep an eye out for this temp reporting issue. Of course, mine will be an Intel board, might not have the issue.

Sounds good! I'm coming from a Q6600, so I'm not used to seeing temps upwards of 60C when overclocked and under full load. From what I've been seeing online, this isn't uncommon with a overclocked i5 or i7 under full load, even when watercooled. It's hard to determine what the BIOS is reporting as CPU temp, as only 1 value is being returned there. In CoreTemp or SpeedFan, you can see the value for each individual core.

One thing I've taken into consideration is that when in the BIOS, the CPU is running at full speed, so the temp is higher. Whereas when in Windows and idle, the chip is clocked down at 1.6ghz (100 x 16). This would explain the lower idle temps I'm seeing in Windows. If I kick off Prime 95, the temps in Windows shoot up almost instantly.

I just ordered an H80, should have it installed by Tuesday. Hoping that this stabilizes full load temps better. Once that's installed, I'll jump back on the overclocking train. Until then, I'm going to keep researching overclocking the core i5 2500k.

Does your board have a UEFI interface vs. a traditional BIOS? Early UEFI boards from Asus (and their subsidiary ASRock) seemed to have had a common issue where temps would report incorrectly from within the UEFI. In other words the temps shown in Windows should actually be the correct values.

Check the mfg site for a BIOS update. Asus has already addressed this issue with a revision update for a mini-itx board that I'm using.

The motherboard uses UEFI. I checked ASROCK's site and no BIOS updates have come out yet (the board is fairly new). I've been monitoring the temps via CPUZ and they are looking to be correct. At this point, I'm not worried about it, I'll just install a new BIOS update in the future whenever it comes out. Thanks for the post!