This is a strange one: I substituted a Q6600 G0 Stepping cpu for a QX6850 today on a P5N32-SLI Plus mobo. Temps running the 6850 were in the 40's at idle. Temps running the newly installed Q6600 @ 2.40 GHz -- no overclock -- are 70C* at idle. Yes, at idle.

I ran through the typical error checking steps: re-seated the D-Tek waterblock after re-applying Arctic Silver 5, checked all fans and loops, etc.

Has anyone experienced temperature variation this dramatic between identical model processors? Could it be a flaw in the processor?

Prior to the QX6850 I ran a QX6700 on this motherboard -- temps were in the 40's and 50's.

Temps on a second Q6600 running on a P5K-Premium board averages in the mid-30C's overclocked to 3.65 GHz.

I can't imagine there being that much difference between the motherboard sensor on the P5K and Plus motherboards. Right? Wrong? Oy.

I can swap the two Q6600's to see if I see the same high temps on the P5K board with the new processor, but was curious if anyone has other thoughts -- or has heard of temps this high from a Q6600. Bizarre!

*Note: temps have since dropped to 62-65C at idle. Still too high.