Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Computer Temperatures ...

May 18, 2010 10:10AM PDT

Some of the temperatures on my son's computer seem a bit high. His CPU varies from 30-50 degrees Celsius. The GPU ranges from 40-50.

His computer is an HP Pavilion Elite, Windows 7, 8GB RAM, Quad-core.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Seems fine
May 18, 2010 11:02AM PDT

Seems fine to me. So long as that 50C reading is under load. And honestly, if that's it's peak load temp, that's pretty good.

- Collapse -
Computer Temp.
May 18, 2010 12:23PM PDT

My son's computer has high temperatures sometimes even when he's not doing anything.

One of his fans is spinning at very high rpms too, like around 1500.

My computer (Mac Pro) has five fans (my son's has four) and they are usually between 500-800rpm.

Temps on my Mac Pro run between 88-121 degrees F., even when I have many apps running, downloading, watching videos ....

Are higher temps more normal for PCs? Or do certain computers tend to run a bit warmer?

- Collapse -
Computer Temperatures Revised
May 18, 2010 12:48PM PDT

I made a mistake. The GPU temp on my son's computer is 40-70 degrees Celsius.

- Collapse -
Mac Pros are different
May 18, 2010 2:12PM PDT

Mac Pros are different. They are partitioned off internally into separate "zones" and each "zone" has independently controlled fans. PCs are usually just one giant open space, so heat from different components is free to spread.

But none of the temps you give are outside of what is considered normal. They're actually into the good territory. They're also inline with your system.

88F is ~31C and 121F is ~49C.

There's nothing wrong with your son's system, it's running at near identical temps to yours. The fan is working a bit harder, but that's because of the partitioning in the Mac Pro case. If you removed those partitions, you'd see your fan speeds go up. Plus Apple tends to do some funny things with fan speeds. They intentionally keep them low to cut down on noise. I also think Apple tends to use larger fans, so more airflow at lower RPMs. Believe me though, those Mac Pro fans can get spinning at a good clip. I was working on one once, and as a diagnostic was running, I leaned into the case to trigger some in-case diagnostic LEDs. As luck would have it, that's when the diagnostic program started the fan test, and gave me a nice face full of dust.

While 70C is a bit on the warm side, it's still within pretty normal ranges. Once you get above 75C, then it's time to start rethinking your cooling strategy, but most CPUs and GPUs should be able to take up to around 90C.

- Collapse -
Computer Temps ...
May 19, 2010 12:43AM PDT

Thanks for the technical info! My son has been wanting to return his computer, afraid that it is overheating.

- Collapse -
Well
May 19, 2010 1:58AM PDT

Well, I could see wanting to return an HP system given their less than stellar quality control history, but in this case there's absolutely nothing wrong with it as far as CPU/GPU temperatures go. Plenty of people would love to have those kinds of temps.