Should I trust Speedfan or AMD Overdrive

[Codelyoko373]

I'm currently looking at the readings shown in both Speedfan and AMD Overdrive for my CPU Temp (My CPU is a AMD Radeon A8-6600K)

It seems the readings are quite different in that AMD overdrive says my CPU temp is around 30C while Speedfan says around 46C. I'm not really sure which one to believe though I normally trusted Speedfan as I seem to remember finding out that the CPU temp shown in Speedfan was the same as the temp shown by my Bios.

The only reason I ask this is because most people seem to say to not trust Speedfan as it's inaccurate, compared to Overdrive at least.

 

[JalYt_Justin]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

 

[Codelyoko373]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

I've tried HWMonitor and it shows the exact same temps at Speedfan

EDIT:
Actually I'm not sure. If you look at this screenshot: https://prnt.sc/idrj4y
It seems to be saying my CPU temp is at 68C which is completely different to the other two. The Motherboard temps though are the same as the temps shown in Speedfan

 

[Finstar]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

I've tried HWMonitor and it shows the exact same temps at Speedfan

EDIT:
Actually I'm not sure. If you look at this screenshot: https://prnt.sc/idrj4y
It seems to be saying my CPU temp is at 68C which is completely different to the other two. The Motherboard temps though are the same as the temps shown in Speedfan

The cpu package temp on HWmonitor is what you should be looking at for cpu temps, meaning that the 68C is the temperature of your cpu.

 

[Codelyoko373]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

I've tried HWMonitor and it shows the exact same temps at Speedfan

EDIT:
Actually I'm not sure. If you look at this screenshot: https://prnt.sc/idrj4y
It seems to be saying my CPU temp is at 68C which is completely different to the other two. The Motherboard temps though are the same as the temps shown in Speedfan

The cpu package temp on HWmonitor is what you should be looking at for cpu temps, meaning that the 68C is the temperature of your cpu.

That's not accurate then since there is no way my CPU temp is 68C. I've seen it go above 74C which is my CPU's max temp

 

[mjslakeridge]

Unless you have a very old version of AMD Overdrive, the temperature reported is Thermal Margin, not the actual temperatures. Thermal Margin is the number of degrees you are away from the highest safe temperature for the CPU. So a larger Thermal Margin # is better.

 

[Codelyoko373]

Unless you have a very old version of AMD Overdrive, the temperature reported is Thermal Margin, not the actual temperatures. Thermal Margin is the number of degrees you are away from the highest safe temperature for the CPU. So a larger Thermal Margin # is better.

Yea, mine shows the Thermal Margin though 30C seems too low for my CPU

 

[Finstar]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

I've tried HWMonitor and it shows the exact same temps at Speedfan

EDIT:
Actually I'm not sure. If you look at this screenshot: https://prnt.sc/idrj4y
It seems to be saying my CPU temp is at 68C which is completely different to the other two. The Motherboard temps though are the same as the temps shown in Speedfan

The cpu package temp on HWmonitor is what you should be looking at for cpu temps, meaning that the 68C is the temperature of your cpu.

That's not accurate then since there is no way my CPU temp is 68C. I've seen it go above 74C which is my CPU's max temp

If you're referring to the 74C as the maximum temp reported by AMD then no, the 74C is only recommendation that should not be exceeded to ensure longevity of the cpu.

 

[Codelyoko373]

Download HWMonitor, it's generally considered to be the superior monitoring software.

Speedfan seems to be hit or miss, AMD Overdrive does tend to be accurate. I know Speedfan doesn't even really work for my R7 1700X, but Ryzen Master records temps fine. HWMonitor is proven to be accurate, but Overdrive should be the more accurate of the two.

I've tried HWMonitor and it shows the exact same temps at Speedfan

EDIT:
Actually I'm not sure. If you look at this screenshot: https://prnt.sc/idrj4y
It seems to be saying my CPU temp is at 68C which is completely different to the other two. The Motherboard temps though are the same as the temps shown in Speedfan

The cpu package temp on HWmonitor is what you should be looking at for cpu temps, meaning that the 68C is the temperature of your cpu.

That's not accurate then since there is no way my CPU temp is 68C. I've seen it go above 74C which is my CPU's max temp

If you're referring to the 74C as the maximum temp reported by AMD then no, the 74C is only recommendation that should not be exceeded to ensure longevity of the cpu.

Well I'm certain that's not the temp, that seems way too high. Surely my computer should of shut off due to overheating when I play a game if that's the temp when idle?

 

[mjslakeridge]

Lets assume that your Speedfan temp of 46 degrees is accurate. If you add the thermal margin reported by Overdrive - 30 degrees to the 46 degrees, you get 76 degrees, which is probably about right for that CPU (maximum safe temperature). Run some stress tests to see if the Thermal Margin goes lower, which it should. You can use the stress test within Overdrive, I can't remember what it is called because I don't have Overdrive open right now, but I have used the stress test in the past while monitoring Thermal Margin.

 

[Codelyoko373]

Lets assume that your Speedfan temp of 46 degrees is accurate. If you add the thermal margin reported by Overdrive - 30 degrees to the 46 degrees, you get 76 degrees, which is probably about right for that CPU (maximum safe temperature). Run some stress tests to see if the Thermal Margin goes lower, which it should. You can use the stress test within Overdrive, I can't remember what it is called because I don't have Overdrive open right now, but I have used the stress test in the past while monitoring Thermal Margin.

Well if it helps, it definitely does change, goes to around 13C when playing a game

 

[mjslakeridge]

OK, so when playing a game you are 13 degrees away from the maximum safe operating temp for your CPU. Not bad, but if the Thermal Margin were to get much smaller, you may want to consider re-applying thermal paste, cleaning dust out of your system, fan blades, etc., or get an aftermarket CPU cooler.

 

[Codelyoko373]

OK, so when playing a game you are 13 degrees away from the maximum safe operating temp for your CPU. Not bad, but if the Thermal Margin were to get much smaller, you may want to consider re-applying thermal paste, cleaning dust out of your system, fan blades, etc., or get an aftermarket CPU cooler.

I guess I should just trust the AMD Overdrive temps? I heard it's more accurate when under load

 

[mjslakeridge]

AMD Overdrive is the most accurate for AMD cpus. Perhaps with the AMD Ryzen cpus, other monitoring software works properly, but that was not the case with the FX and older ones.

 

[Finstar]

AMD Overdrive is the most accurate for AMD cpus. Perhaps with the AMD Ryzen cpus, other monitoring software works properly, but that was not the case with the FX and older ones.

At least HWmonitor works correctly with my 1700.

 

[mjslakeridge]

AMD Overdrive is the most accurate for AMD cpus. Perhaps with the AMD Ryzen cpus, other monitoring software works properly, but that was not the case with the FX and older ones.

At least HWmonitor works correctly with my 1700.

That's good to know ^^^.