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I have a brand new laptop with an i7 2630QM CPU. Core #3 (Out of 1-4) always has a temperature 3-8C cooler than the other cores under normal operation. If I put 100% load on the core then it'll go up to the same temperatures as the other cores. Loading a different CPU core results in a 10C difference.

It seems to me that the temperature sensor for that core is off. Considering how small the CPU is, I seriously doubt that core #3 could have better cooling.

Should I be worried about the fact that one of the temperature sensors is inaccurate? (assuming it is inaccurate?)

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It might just be an application of heat flow equations. Since the cores have a certain physical grid layout, they live by different boundary conditions in a mathematical/physical point of view. Most probably nothing strange going on. –  Daniel Andersson May 9 '12 at 20:04
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

The difference isn't much of a concern. But then again, you never posted the actual temperatures. The actual temperatures make more of a difference than the temperature differences.

My guess is die defects. It's common to have cores at different temperatures as long as they pass the stability test.

I wouldn't concern myself with it. Life is too short to concern yourself with arbitrary temperature differences.

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Under light use it sits at 60C, hits 70C under load with turbo boost off, and 85C with TB on under load. The highest I've seen the CPU at was 90C with TB on + Furmark + Prime Torture Test - At that point the clock speed was automatically reduced (thankfully - I was getting a bit worried by that point). I didn't know its common to have cores with that much of temperature difference, hence why I was concerned. Glad to hear that its nothing to worry about =) –  William Lawn Stewart Aug 3 '11 at 6:26
It was sometimes more obvious with the old Core 2s. On top of that, you gotta take into account that the processor will shutdown idle cores to save power –  surfasb Aug 3 '11 at 7:54
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Do you mean Core #3 as in 0,1,2,3 that three? If so then this may explain it:

If you look at a the die map of a Sandy Bridge CPU you will see that the graphics hardware is right next to core #3, with #0 all the way to the right.

enter image description here

If you mean 3 out of 1,2,3,4 then I have no idea.

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I mean 3 out of 1-4, so nope, thats not it. Good thinking though –  William Lawn Stewart Aug 2 '11 at 6:43
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