Everest Ultimate is suddenly telling me that the CPU temperature (and core temps) for my E6850 Core 2 Duo is 72 degrees Celsius. When I stress-test the machine, the temp goes up to 91 degrees and the CPU actually throttles. System remains stable though.

For over a year now, my CPU has run very cool (40's) with a large commercial copper heatsink/fan that I bought separately.

To top it off, I removed the cover of the box and felt the cpu heatsink and it wasn't even warm.

Is there such a thing as a CPU temp sensor showing the wrong readings?

Any tips would help.

UPDATE #1

Temp is also just as high in BIOS. So that leads me to believe it's a CPU seating issue (even though I used thermal paste to seat it two years ago when I built the machine)

UPDATE #2 Well. I removed the heatsink and cleaned off the original thermal paste (which was somewhat crusty). I polished the surface, re-applied some new paste, and reseated the heat sink. After powering it up, there was no noticeable change in the temp - ideling at 74. Ran the stress test and it went up to 94 degrees before being 100% throttled. I let it sit at 94 degrees for 20 minutes straight and the computer didn't even flinch. I then immediately shut it off and opened the case and felt around. The heatsink was completely cold to the touch. Even the copper rods were cold. The area near contact with the CPU was slightly warm but not hot to touch.

Then I ran REALTEMP, which is supposedly more accurate and it told me the CPU was at 104 degrees. (LOL)

At this point, I'm thinking no doubt the cpu's sensor is wrong. Sidenote: the BIOS has the latest version so no option to flash there. Reverting hasn't been known to help from what I've read.

What pisses me off is the false temps force the CPU to artificially throttle from 3GHz down to 2GHz and my CPU fan is cranking at full force all the time.

Should I call intel and tell them to send me another E6850?

SOLUTION UPDATE

I switched the processor out with another one and got the same obscene temperatures with the new processor followed by a heatsink that was cool to touch. My suspicion in the heatsink was suddenly renewed. I swapped it out with the stock heatsink/fan and lo and behold the temperatures returned to the normal 35C-50C. Even though the thermal paste was visibly flattened out every time I removed it, it looks like the heatsink was still not pressing hard enough on the CPU to effectively conduct the heat. The heatsink is a Masscool 8Wa741, which screws into a standard position on a mount on the back of the MOBO. Only thing I can surmise after 2 years of use was that, over time, the heatsink pressure on the CPU gave way until the heat began to be ineffectively conducted.

Lessons learned:

• Intel CPU's can run SUPER HOT (upwards of 95C) and still be stable.
• Heatsink's need to be VERY firmly pressed against the CPU to conduct heat.