I found this forum to be very useful, thanks for all the great guides and answers. I did not find answers specifically for my questions so I thought I would make a new post.

My system:
MSI P35 platinum combo
4 gigs - CORSAIR XMS2 - TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX 5-5-5-18 1.8v
Intel Q6600 - stock HS and fan
Antek Case of some kind.
2 HD one DVD
Windows Vista 32

Overclocked:
FSB 333
Memory 833
vcore bumped up to 1.3 from 1.275

I just built the system yesterday. I used the stock thermal grease. My temps yesterday before OC were 32-33 idle and 48ish full normal load. Prime 95 torture test max temp 57C, ran for 20mins. Today after I OC'd, idle around 35C and Prime 95 torture test max temp 50C, but I downloaded SANDRA during part of it. OOPS! Ran prime 95 for 38 mins no errors.

So my questions are, can the thermal past bond in less then 12hrs operation? Is that why the the max temp is so different? I am a bit perplexed. Do I really have to do 24 hrs of stress testing? Thats a long time. Maybe video games would stress the whole system more, should I tell my wife I must play games for 24hrs straight? Lastly, can it really be this easy? I am worried that my computer will blow up like a meth lab and blast me to the neighbors.

Thanks for your time,
Z

Download Real Temp 2.6 and check your temps with that, it is usually quite accurate, and I know it works well with my Q6600@3.2GHz. Seeing as you are running the stock HS and fan, those temps sound a little low for a maxed out CPU running at 3.0G. Not all temp measurement programs give accurate results, depends on mobo, processor, etc.

If those are the temps read by CoreTemp or RealTemp, then they should be fairly accurate. As to why the load temps were lower could be a number of things:

1.) a change in ambient temps. Perhaps your room got much cooler?

2.) You are running blend test instead of small FFTs in Prime95

3.) You are running large FFTs instead of small FFTs.

4.) Your cpu sensor became jacked up over the course of 12hours.

Thanks for your reply.
I ran prime 95 for 12 mins. Here is what Real Temp 2.6 says. The Distance to TJMax varied. It's about 7 miles from me though.
Core temp fluctuated. Min temp 34C 32C 31C 34C. Max temp 53C 50C 50C 55C.

Z

I was running blend test, will run small FFTs now.

Just ran small FFTs.

min 35C 33C 32C 35C.
max 52C 49C 49C 54C.

The ambient temp may be slightly different but no more then 1 or 2 degrees F