I'm troubleshooting an issue on a Dell Precision T3500. As part of my troubleshooting I've decided to try running a stress test using Intel Burn Test software.

This machine is a stock configuration with 12GB of RAM and a Xeon W3670 processor (nothing overclocked).

When I run IBT using the standard mode, SpeedFan reports a processor temperature in excess of 80C. I've seen numbers as high as 90C but even at that temperature the machine does not become unstable or crash. However, it seems way too high. This processor has a TCase of 67.9C according to Intel's website. I'm guessing that means I'm in the danger zone any time I go over that temperature.

I've checked the cooling system and everything looks fine. I've even took out the heat sink and reinstalled it with new thermal compound. This did not appear to make the problem better or worse.

Is there a discrepancy somewhere here in the way temperatures are measured or displayed? I've also tried using HWMonitor from CPUID and it reports the same temperatures.

Should I just let the Standard Test go and disregard the temperature outputs?