I have been using Core Temp for a couple weeks now since installing a CPU liquid cooler on my PC. I also installed the Core Temp Gadget for Win7, which runs right along with it, giving me great readings. Linux users already have this available, for most if not all flavors. But, the good news about this handy little program is that it's also free. (upper left icon) Core Temp will minimize to your system tray and it can be customized. This is the Core Temp control panel. Core Temp can start with Windows, minimized to tray or displayed. It uses few system resources. *NOTE* I forgot to mention you will need to adjust the offset by going into options. The offset will allow you to set the actual temperature readings from your CPU, if needed. In my case, it is needed. I went to my BIOS and retrieved the CPU temperature and also compared it to my motherboard software (Easy Tune) CPU readings, which both gave me accurate CPU temperatures. Since I dual boot, I also checked with Linux readings. All of these gave me a good idea of what my CPU temperature was, and for me it was quite a bit off from what was displayed by Core Temp. It's a simple fix. I went into Core Temp options, then chose 'offset' and typed in "20" and selected 'apply to all cores'. Done. Why do AMD processors like the FX series report temperatures that are about 20 degrees Celsius off? I do not know. There's probably a good mathematical reason, but it's simple to fix with this program. Core Temp Gadget (fits on your desktop as a resizable widget) Here are the Core Temp and Easy Tune programs side by side to show how easy it was to match them up. They are each reporting temperatures in real-time, so the readings vary every few seconds. Extended information: I set the interval to report the temperature to 3100 milliseconds (or about 3 seconds). This program is very easy to customize.
I'm an overclocker who got tired of fan noise so loud, I thought the system would hover. Water cooling is good stuff.
Upgraded system CPU, had blue screen issues. It wasn't Core Temp. As best I can tell, Win needed updated and I shouldn't try to max out my new CPU at 5.0 GHz. The 8-core is set to auto, which will vary its setting from 3.2 GHz up to 4.0 GHz or higher depending on stress. The liquid cooler works well, maintaining under 30 C.
