Question does intel actually physically show where the cores are located on their CPUS?

[ooey]

This would help identify which cores are running too hot etc. There is a temperature variance of about 10 degrees between the hottest and coldest of the 4 cores on my i7-3770k.

 

[boju]

Hows this information going to help since heatsink covers entire ihs, so isolating cores for specific coverage is obviously out of control.

 

[CountMike]

This would help identify which cores are running too hot etc. There is a temperature variance of about 10 degrees between the hottest and coldest of the 4 cores on my i7-3770k.

That wouldn't help you with anything. If none goes into red, it doesn't matter anyway. If some cores do. you can help by tuning voltages and/or get better cooling.

 

[KingLoki]

These will provide some info you need.

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/17881/intel-extreme-tuning-utility-intel-xtu.html

 

[ooey]

if you know which part of the chip is running hotter maybe some more thermal paste there would help (or the the reverse). There shouldn't really be a 10 degree variance should there? Thats just too much.

 

[uWebb429]

@ooey

Most Intel temperature sensors are only accurate to +/- 5°C across the range of temperatures they report. Everyone assumes that these sensors are space shuttle worthy. Definitely not. As long as they can trigger thermal throttling at 100°C, more or less, they are good enough.

They were never designed or intended to be 100% accurate temperature monitoring devices from 30°C to 100°C. A difference of 10°C is within the range of normal variation. Two cores sitting side by side might be physically at the exact same temperature. One might report a temperature higher than the actual temperature and the other one might report a temperature lower. This is not anything to be concerned about. Trying to micro manage the thermal paste application will not make any difference to the temperature spread if the real issue is less than perfect temperature sensors.

 

[USAFRet]

if you know which part of the chip is running hotter maybe some more thermal paste there would help (or the the reverse). There shouldn't really be a 10 degree variance should there? Thats just too much.

"more thermal paste" is rarely the solution.

 

[geofelt]

"more thermal paste" is rarely the solution.

Agreed.
In fact less paste is better.
Paste is an insulator.
What you want is as close to metal to metal contact as possible.

 

[ooey]

Some great logical answers here. Thank you for your input!

With regards to thermal paste, I always thought that there was no point to it. Copper is one of the best heat transferrers for its price and it has also been proven that rough surfaces are better than smooth for conducting heat. I suppose the argument is that if you have a paste there are less contact gaps between the surfaces as the paste is semi-liquid, and fills gaps better (more contact = more even heat transference).

The best thermal pastes are copper-based, I would assume.

The thermal sensors though... It does beg the question - why put four thermal sensors in such close proximity to each other on a CPU if there is quite a large tolerance allowed (i.e. 1 per core)? Why not just have one? This is probably what lulls people into the thinking that these sensors are so accurate that they must be space shuttle technology. In case one fails perhaps? Never known this to be the case for a CPU!

I guess the only answer to heat dissipation is to use as large a heatsink as you can fit in your case and make sure you use the best conductive material you can get your hands on.

Does it make sense to have the CPU heatsink in contact with the case in as large an area as possible or would that cause potential electrical vulnerabilities for the CPU? I've never liked the concept of water-cooling!

 

[ooey]

Good guide here:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/intel-cpu-temperature-guide.1488337/

You mods are really helpful people

 

[CountMike]

Some great logical answers here. Thank you for your input!

With regards to thermal paste, I always thought that there was no point to it. Copper is one of the best heat transferrers for its price and it has also been proven that rough surfaces are better than smooth for conducting heat. I suppose the argument is that if you have a paste there are less contact gaps between the surfaces as the paste is semi-liquid (more contact = more heat transference).

The best thermal pastes are copper-based, I would assume.

The thermal sensors though... It does beg the question - why put four thermal sensors in such close proximity to each other on a CPU/motherboard if there is quite a large tolerance allowed? Why not just have one? In case one fails perhaps? Never known this to be the case for a CPU!

I guess the only answer to heat dissipation is to use as large a heatsink as you can fit in your case and make sure you use the best conductive material you can get your hands on.

A lot of wrong assumptions.
Paste or pad is needed to fill up microscopic imperfections on the surfaces which don't allow full contact. If you look at best polished mirror like surface under microscope, you would see mountains and valleys which disallow full contact. Paste may be an insulator but it's lousy at the job and transfer more heat than air trapped in between would,
Copper is not best heat transfer material, it's Silver but more expensive although there were some pastes with it.
Paste is constituted from some kind of grease (now mostly special high temp silicone) but what really transfers heat is microscopic particles of metal or in latest pastes special ceramic particles which transfer heat even better than metal and can also be smaller which allows for more of them and also to fill up smaller pits.
Temperature sensors are many, more than can be seen, in modern CPUs even for every core. They are used internally in CPU microcode to regulate core's behavior according to it's temperatures. Chipset, VRM ,GPUs have own sensors for same reasons.

 

[ooey]

Yes - I knew that about silver! Copper is the most cost effective conductor for heat dissipation as you say. Best to use as little paste as possible though. Some slap it on thick, which I don't think does any good at all. It is only really helpful to fill those micro-gaps in solid conductors.