Since everyone tests their rigs using X stress software at Y Ambient temperatures with Z measuring utilities resulting in CPU or Package or Core temperatures, it's impossible to compare apples to apples. This is why processor temperatures are so confusing.
There are only three relevant values; Ambient,
steady-state 100% workload, and
dead idle. Applications and games are partial workloads with fluctuating temperatures, which are unsuitable for thermal testing or accurate temperature comparisons.
Prime95 Small FFT's is the standard for CPU thermal testing, because it's a
steady-state 100% workload. This is the test that Real Temp uses to test sensors. The link above is to version 26.6, which is well suited to all Core i and Core 2 variants.
Prime95's default test, Blend, is a cyclic workload for testing memory stability, and Large FFT's combines CPU and memory tests. As such, Blend and Large FFT's both have cyclic workloads which are unsuitable for CPU thermal testing.
Other stability tests such as Linpack and Intel Burn Test have cycles that load all registers with all one's, which is equivalent to a 110% workload, and are also unsuitable for CPU thermal testing. The software utility OCCT runs elements of Linpack and Prime95.
Shown above from left to right: Small FFT's, Blend, Linpack and Intel Burn Test.
Note the
steady-state thermal signatures of Small FFT's, which allows accurate measurements of Core temperatures.
Shown above from left to right: Small FFT's, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility CPU Test, and AIDA64 CPU Test.
The "Charts" in SpeedFan span 13 minutes, and show how each test creates different thermal signatures. Intel Extreme Tuning Utility is also a cyclic workload. Although AIDA64's CPU test is steady-state, the workload is well below TDP, and it's not available as freeware.
Keep in mind we're using Prime95 Small FFT's for thermal testing
not stability testing.
CT