Unusual temp readings i5 3470 + Asus P8P67

[Trompochi]

Hello, recently I built a new gaming rig for my brother using an i5 3470, NZXT Respire T40(single fan for now) and asus P8P67 mobo, everyting works fine and temps are not high at all, what I find strange is that all core temps are usually the same, for example 31c/31c/31c/31c, idle temps usually jumping around 28c and 35c, but all cores reporting exactly the same temperature, I ran Prime95 for 10 mins and temps were a bit different on each core, max temps were 58c/61c/63c/59c, which is about the same results I got when I had that cpu installed on my asrock z77 extreme4.

I used Realtemp, CoreTemp and HWMonitor, all reporting the same readings. I'm not worried about those temps since they are good enough, I just find it strange since that cpu had completely different temps on each core when used on the asrock mobo, maybe it's something related to the asus motherboard, not sure. Cpu isn't overclocked at all and mobo has the latest bios version.

 

[Kursah]

Multi-core processors have been like this for almost a decade now, they will run different temperatures, depending on load, cycles, threads, current voltage, even down to the level of design where a more efficient core may run cooler than a less efficient core. You will generally never see all cores run the same temps. A variance of about 10c between the coolest and hottest core I believe is considered acceptable. It changes even more with Haswell and newer with the cpu voltage regulation for each core now being on-die so each core (iirc from what I have researched) can be adjusted to the load that core is facing.

I wouldn't worry too much...those are very close temps and good at that. If you Google it, you'll find all sorts of reports about core temperature varying. But really there's no need to worry. Just because they're on the same physical silicon, doesn't mean they will run at the same load temps...just the nature of the beast. Let's also not forget that there is also room for error in the sensors themselves. Again, I wouldn't worry.

 

[Trompochi]

Yup, I understand that load and idle temps on each core will be different and I'm fine with that, I just thought it was strange that idle temps of this cpu while on asrock mobo were like 31c/34c/36c/32c and they NEVER were all the same, now on the asus mobo they're showing like I said on my first post, anyway it's not something I'm worried about, I just wanted to know if someone could explain me why the differences in temp readings between both mobos.

 

[Kursah]

Different BIOS programming, different sensor data gathering chips are probably the 2 biggest culprits there.