Are idle temps ever accurate?

[Utmost]

My q9300 has always been around 52C at idle with 2 different coolers under my coolest ambient temps. When things warm up during the summer the core temp will rise up to 55C max while idle. I achieved a stable 3.2 OC with my old cooler (Freezer Pro 7 rev 1), however during 100% load it would get into the upper 70's. When I switched to my Corsair H50 the load temps were about 12 degrees cooler, but idle was always, and still is, the same. I this the stuck sensor problem? Not sure what to think.

[endorphiend]

My q9300 has always been around 52C at idle with 2 different coolers under my coolest ambient temps. When things warm up during the summer the core temp will rise up to 55C max while idle. I achieved a stable 3.2 OC with my old cooler (Freezer Pro 7 rev 1), however during 100% load it would get into the upper 70's. When I switched to my Corsair H50 the load temps were about 12 degrees cooler, but idle was always, and still is, the same. I this the stuck sensor problem? Not sure what to think.

Temperatures for your processor aren't measured directly. Each processor has a TJ Max (Thermal junction maximum), which is defined for each processor (i7's are ~100C from what I've read), and the sensors report how far they are from that value. The sensors are designed to be very accurate when temperatures get close to TJ max, since that is when it matters most (i.e. when your chip is about to melt). The sensors are much less accurate when the temperatures are further from TJmax (i.e. idle).

 

In short: idle temperatures are a ballpark figure and rarely 100% accurate.