Does MSI Afterburner accurately monitor CPU temps?

[AiGaming1776]

MSI Afterburner says my CPU is only 40 degrees Celsius, even when running demanding games. I don't overclock, but I do often read people having higher temperatures.

I've also read that most software can't really tell how hot your CPU is, anyway.

Afterburner is giving a temp for all 8 "CPU's". I have a 4 core with hyper threading threading. The temp is pretty much the same on all of them. Is it even measuring the temperature of my CPU in the first place, or is the reference to the 8 "CPU's" something different, completely?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

There are many different CPU temperature measurements measured by various utilities .... the confusion arises from the assumption that they are measuring different things (internal versus external sensors).

Your CPU, I'm assuming 4790k for the purposes of this discussion has 4 physical cores, HT adds another 4 "virtual cores". Many folks use multiple utilities because some of the ones they are using might not show everything they want to see. The problem is that running multiple programs may interfere and result in them making each other inaccurate.

I would suggest turning off the monitoring functions of all active utilities and using HWiNFO64 to measure all temps, voltages, power and other functions.
http://www.hwinfo.com/

In addition, "while gaming" does not represent and known and repeatable condition. In order to compare with other folks temps, you need to be running the exact same thing.

For GPUs, I recommend Furmark .... for CPUs I recommend RoG Real Bench
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/
http://rog.asus.com/241042013/overclocking/rog-realbench-free-app-download-now/

 

[Andres de Groot]

Afterburner is ONLY for your GPU 😉

That 40 degrees is your GPU.....Not your Cpu.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Afterburner can also display CPU temps

http://i.imgur.com/Wugy5T6.png

 

[AiGaming1776]

Afterburner is ONLY for your GPU 😉

That 40 degrees is your GPU.....Not your Cpu.

My GPU is about 72 degrees. It says my CPU's are in the 40's. It makes a distinguishment between the CPU and GPU. (or at least it claims to)

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The misconception arises because by default only GPU temps are shown.... you can however enable CPU temp monitoring

 

[AiGaming1776]

There are many different CPU temperature measurements measured by various utilities .... the confusion arises from the assumption that they are measuring different things (internal versus external sensors).

Your CPU, I'm assuming 4790k for the purposes of this discussion has 4 physical cores, HT adds another 4 "virtual cores". Many folks use multiple utilities because some of the ones they are using might not show everything they want to see. The problem is that running multiple programs may interfere and result in them making each other inaccurate.

I would suggest turning off the monitoring functions of all active utilities and using HWiNFO64 to measure all temps, voltages, power and other functions.
http://www.hwinfo.com/

In addition, "while gaming" does not represent and known and repeatable condition. In order to compare with other folks temps, you need to be running the exact same thing.

For GPUs, I recommend Furmark .... for CPUs I recommend RoG Real Bench
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/
http://rog.asus.com/241042013/overclocking/rog-realbench-free-app-download-now/

Do you happen to know what Afterburner is monitoring when it claims to be monitoring my CPU temps?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Given that it's 8 , ya gotta say core temps tho the idea of measuring the temp of a virtual core is something I have to wrestle with. I use AB but have no use for the monitoring functions unless you want to display on a Keyboard LCD.

 

[Dylanshub101]

I feel like MSI Afterburner is innacurate on the CPU temps. I had no load on my compter just booted up and it said i was at 90 degrees C on some cores. Open Hardware and my BIOS was reading between 40-50 degrees

 

[Vie_Jobar]

Something similar happens to me with MSI Afterburner... I suspect it doesn't measure my CPU temps accurately because my Gigabyte MOBO shows from 29°-36°, while MSI Afterburner shows 58°-63°. I have an AIO liquid cooling solution and I think my MOBO is being more reliable. But who knows, right?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Again, as per the above almost 2 year old posts .... You have to make sure what you are reading. In addition to the CPus monitoring and reporting fucntions which include Core Temperatures and "CPU Package Temperatures", MoBo manufacturers include a chip on board to take various readings and provide monitoring and control functions. This is generally reported as "CPU Temperature" in BIOS and MoBo Utilities and in 3rd party utilities as "CPU Package Temperature" The "Package Temps" from the MoBo sensor are an average of several sensors around the CPU socket and is very different from CPU Core Temperatures.

If you want to see a full array of all the things your system is monitoring and to get a handle on which is which ... download / install HWiNFO64. Start it up and run in "sensors only" mode. Look at the temps shown there and match them up with whatever BIOS or other utilities.

BTW, BIOS readings will always be misleading as Windows power saving functions are not active until Windows loads... therefore with SpeedStep unable to downclock your CPU to 800 MHz, your "Idle Temp" in BIOS will usually be higher than when in Windows cause in the BIOS, CPU is running full speed.