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ForumsA lot of users frequently ask if their computers are running too hot and want to know their maximum temperature for their CPU is. This article will show you how to monitor your processors temperature and tell you the maximum CPU temperature your PC should be running at.
First of all, you need a CPU temperature monitoring program in order to measure what your current CPU temperature is. There are many good processor monitoring applications out there and it is most likely that there is one on the CD which came with your motherboard. If there isn’t one on the CD (or you have since lost it) I recommend Motherboard Monitor which is freeware and can be found HERE.
Motherboard Monitor is useful because not only you can make it constantly show you the temperature in real time on your system tray, but you can set it up so that if the maximum temperature is reached an alarm will go off.
An example of Motherboard Monitors temperature monitoring in the systemtray.
Another way of checking your CPU temperature is to look in your computers BIOS. To get into your computers BIOS; on the first screen you see press “Del†to enter setup, on some machines this may be F1, F2 or F10.
Once you are in BIOS setup there will be an option called “Hardware Monitor†or “PC Health†section (mine was found under “Power > Hardware Monitorâ€Â).
However this isn’t a very good method to measure your computers temperature because when your computer is in the BIOS your computer is doing nothing and therefore not generating the heat that is caused during normal computer use.
Ok, I know the temperature now, Is my CPU too hot?
Once you know what your computers temperature is you should consult the chart below to determine the maximum temperature allowed for your CPU type.
Note: If you dont know what your CPU type is you can use a tool like Everest Free to find out.
| CPU |
Max Temperature |
| AMD Althon, Althon Opteron, Duron & Sempron Series |
|
| AMD Athlon (socket) upto 1Ghz | 90°C |
| AMD Athlon (slot) all speeds | 70°C |
| AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.1Ghz+ | 95°C |
| AMD Athlon MP 1.33Ghz+ | 95°C |
| AMD Athlon XP 1.33Ghz+ | 90°C |
| AMD Athlon XP T-Bred upto 2100+ | 90°C |
| AMD Athlon XP T-Bred over 2100+ | 85°C |
| AMD Athlon XP Barton | 85°C |
| AMD Duron up to 1Ghz | 90°C |
| AMD Duron 1Ghz+ | 90°C |
| AMD Duron Applebred | 85°C |
| AMD Opteron | 65 - 71°C |
| AMD Athlon 64 | 70°C |
| AMD Athlon 64 (Socket 939, 1.4 volts) | 65°C |
| AMD Athlon 64 FX | 70°C |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 | 71°C |
| AMD Sempron (T-bred/Barton core) | 90°C |
| AMD Sempron (Paris core) | 70°C |
| AMD Mobile Sempron | 95°C |
| AMD K6 Series | |
| AMD K6/K6-2/K6-III (All except below) | 70°C |
| AMD K6-2/K6-III (model number ending in X) | 65°C |
| AMD K6-2+/K6-III+ | 85°C |
| Intel Pentium III Series | |
| Pentium III Slot 1 500-866Mhz | 80°C |
| Pentium III Slot and socket 933Mhz | 75°C |
| Pentium III Slot 1 1Ghz | 60 - 70°C |
| Pentium III Slot 1 1.13Ghz | 62°C |
| Intel Celeron Series | |
| Intel Celeron 266-433Mhz | 85°C |
| Intel Celeron 466-533Mhz | 70°C |
| Intel Celeron 566-600Mhz (Coppermine) | 90°C |
| Intel Celeron 633-667Mhz | 82°C |
| Intel Celeron 700 - 850Mhz | 80°C |
| Intel Celeron 900Mhz - 1.6Ghz | 69 - 70°C |
| Intel Celeron 1.7Ghz and Higher | 67 - 77°C |
| Intel Pentium II | |
| Intel Pentium II (First Generation "Klamath") | 72 - 75°C |
| Intel Pentium II (Second Generation, 266-333Mhz) | 65°C |
| Intel Pentium II (350 - 400Mhz) | 75°C |
| Intel Pentium II (450Mhz) | 70°C |
| Intel Pentium 4, Pentium M (notebooks) |
|
| Intel Pentium 4 | 64 - 78°C |
| There are no specific stats for Pentium 4 CPU’s as P4’s have an ability to slow themselves down when they are getting too hot and thus, in theory they should never be able to burn themselves out. To get specifics consult Intel’s specifications for your particular model. |
|
| Intel Pentium M (notebooks) | 100°C |
| Intel Pentium D (dual core) |
|
| Intel Pentium D 820 (2.8Ghz) | 63°C |
| Intel Pentium D 830 & 840 (3.0 - 3.2Ghz) | 69.8°C |
| Intel Pentium Pro | |
| Intel Pentium Pro. 256 or 512K L2 Cache | 85°C |
| Intel Pentium Pro. 1MB L2 Cache | 80°C |
well hey iv got a intel core 2 duo e6300, what is that maximum please?
HI there…
Im having Intel P4… 3.2Ghz… n 915 chipset…
I checked out my CPU temp in BIOS… in Hardware monitor… It was 95 c…
is it normal…????
if not… what am i suppose to do…?
Raviraj, although the computer can run at that temperature, its definitely on the warm side. You should try getting it cooler with a few case fans or something.
My CPU is 90 celcius when running game (warcraft 3) P4 2.4A socket 478 (using original intel heat sink), i have 3 casing fan
wat should i do, is it too hot ?
peng - u should buy a new CPU heatsink and fan.
If your CPU is getting too hot its the CPU heatsink that needs addressing!
Hi,
I have P4 3gig HT, D915GAG mobo I was having heat issues and sorted it with cleaning the dust out of heatsink and applying a new dose of Thermaltake and adding a coupleof fans. Anywayz, now whilst monitoring the temps with MBM it shows two temps for the CPU with it been HT but there is a big difference between the two all the time ! like now its at ‘33c and 48c! is this normal? is there anything I can do to sort it?
Hi! I have a P4 dual core 2×2.8g, cpu was 60-66c, is it normal?What can i do to low cpu temp
p/s:sorry My English is not good
ScunnyUK, 33c to 48c is normal.
Recca, 60c-66c is quite normal as well. Not ideal, but pretty normal for most store built machines.
Warcrafs SUX, play Lineage II
Hi, I have P4 2.8 GHZ.my processor temp is around 65-68 and can extend to 75 degree celcius.is it normal or there is another way to decrease the temp?
i have the same processor Faridz, (P4 2.8 GHZ) and my CPU temp is around 65-75. After i re-coated my CPU and Heatsink with thermal compound it knocked of a considerable amount degrees - now it varies between 45-59 degrees.
Tbh.. i would like 2 know if there are more ways to bring down my CPU temp to idealy 30-40 degrees. Thank You.
I have a pentium d 915 2.8ghz running at 45c is this normal intel says the max temp is 95f. Also im running 2 8800gts in sli if that helps with temp question
Faridz, Definitely on the warmer end of things, try getting some airflow happening in your case to get the hot air out. We have an article about case airflow here.
Jake2.0, as above.
k0pyofadeadklone, 95F is 35C so if your documentation is correct you are running too hot. However, I believe 45C is still fine for a P4 2.8.
Also under load my cpu reaches 57c and its not a p4 its a pentium d (dual-core). Ive reseated my heatsink like 20 times and removed old thermal paste and added antec silver 5. Nothing helps this is driving me crazy. Could my thermal chip be bad?
Hi,i have a Intel celeron(r)
3.06 GHz
And the temp.is about 66c
Is it normal,bad,or ideal?
I really need the answer…please…
Hi, Im running ASUS P5WD2-EP with a P4 3.6 and I just exchanged the original Intel fan to a Zalman CNPS9500LED. After swiping away old paste with Isopropyl I hooked it up and in BIOS I am now running a not so nice CPU temp of 85C (and temp software reported 90C). It is stable at these temps and I Imagine the frequency is going down by these temps? Plenty of space in the tower and no dust. Any suggestions on how to lower the temp, or is it only to remove fan and redo paste treatment off/on? Cheers!
k0pyofadeadklone, 57c under load is still ok. If you want to cool it down more consider looking at your cases airflow.
Renar, a little high. You probably will want to get it down to at least 50. As mentioned above, you might want to look at your case airflow.
Yebo, case airflow, as mentioned in the top paragraph in this post.
Any thoughts as to why my cpu temp is so high? As far as case airflow i have 1 150mm,1 80mm, and the fan in my psu is a 150mm all on intake. For pulling air out i have i antec 150mm, and the two 80mm blowers on my 8800gts’s. The reason im so concerned is i had this same cpu and hsf(Asus Silent Square http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=16&l2=65&l3=0&model=813&modelmenu=1
in my last build and the temp never went past 40c under load. Usually with no load it stayed around 30c-35c.
I have a Pentium D 3.4GHz with Intel 945GTP chipset motherboard, been replaced several times under warranty, in the BIOS temperatures reads 90 degrees C plus, under OS and idle maybe 65 degrees. Have replaced case, etc, still happening. I’m really just over it. I would like to avoid having to replace the board and CPU at my expense now that warranty is running out, and avoiding having to get a whole new CPU and board if that is the only solution.
Any thoughts?
I use an Antec case with an airflow pipe to the CPU pulling in from the back.
Demosthenes, you should probably visit our forums for help like that and have some of the techs there give some answers.
I have a Pentium 4 with the motherboard running at 29 Celcius and the CPU at 68 Celcius, both of which are in the ideal range for idle, yet my computer still will up and turn itself off randomly, from what I see as overheating. Any ideas?
Alexj124, try the forums. You’ll get your answer there.
I’m trying to get a friends computer running properly as I believe it was running hot. Its a celeron 2.48 and it is running at 68-69c with only XP and SisoftSandra running, you give a range of 67-77c as max for anything above 1.7 mhz. Does the maximum temp depend on clockspeed or does it just vary from chip processor to processor with the larger Celerons?
p.s. I have already removed the heatsink and cleaned it out, used arctic white (I think thats its name) and checked the rpms of the fan
hello i like this website but i have a Field AMD Athlon XP, 2000 MHz (15 x 133) can u pleas help
ok nevermind
Ive just cleaned all the crap off my heatsink and cooler and the processor and reapplied the heatsink compound. The original temprature of my Intel Dual Core 3gig was about 64c-66c idle. It is now between 39c and 44c. Under load it is now varies between 54c and 59c.
I have a intel 3.4GHZ w/ hypertreading and it was running at 63c so I bought a new heat sink and it runs at 52c with playing rainbow six vegas… I still wouldn’t mind if it would run cooler… I have 2 case fans also… just don’t know what else I can do… is that a good temp?
i have intel pentium 4 and recently i find out that my cpu temperature going very high until 123c…i’m worrying whether it will burn the other hardware component..so what should i do in this case?
i have 2.8ghz intel,mercury motherboard,515mb of ram operating on xp.
i discovered that my cpu temp is 63c.
is this nprmal?.
I have a newer CPU then listed on the site, a Intel DualCore Pent D 950, running at 3.2 Mhz. My normal CPU temp is 50 C and it goes to about 60 C when under heavy use. The highest I’ve seen it get is 66 C. Looking at the eariler models of DualCores and taking a educated guess, my CPU can handle a max temp of 70 C. Still, it runs a lot hotter then my old system. System temp is around 30 C normal, 40-45 C under heavy use. Should I be worried at all?
CPU temps are such that any variable from machine to machine can make huge differences in results. Processor Manufacturers publish thermal specs for their CPU’s on their websites, use these as a guide to a normal temp for a given processor but remember case design, heatsink/fan combos, wiring obstructions (clutter), number of and location of case fans all have an impact on results. Also temp reading from mobo sensors for a CPU can and will be as much as 10 degress C off so what you see with a monitoring utility or in your bios is probably not 100% accurate. For best results keep your PC internals clean, unclutter the wiring to allow optimum airflow, and don’t sweat temps unless you have stability issues!
My CPU is Intel Pentium, The temp is (48-63).
Note: My Pc do shutdown always …. so i need a solution pls.
Get a small paintbrush and a vacuum cleaner and clean the shit out of your PC, clean the dust out of your heatsink and fan. If the pc ran cool when you bought it then it just needs a clean.
Get it off the floor.
Forget about what these geeks are telling you.
Where the fuck is the Freeware Motherboard Monitor ??? ffs if ur gonna post shit do it right ffs.
some of us need real help u know !
jq, seems the site that this article was linking to for the tool has since gone down. The download link has been fixed. Also, a quick Google search for “motherboard monitor” (which we mention the name of in this article) brings up many many results. Google is your friend JQ.
I bought a new alienware computer man has that thing got some power. I got the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI Motherboard and i was wondering if i should be worried that it runs at 90-95c when i push it, should i be worried and purchase the liquid cooling or can the system handel it.
ok got a problem and ive already talked to hp there nuts. im a big everquest play got a hp with 4400 amd 64×2 duel core cpu. when i start everquest the cpu fan begins to run at max speed and does so with only bout a minute of down time. i have a temp monitor only seen temp get to 60 degress should i change my fan and heatsink. i have 2 other hp computer with smaller cpu’s and they dont do this. hp told me i need a new fan and video card so i got them and it still does it.
I have an alienware aurora, can’t remember the exact make, but it’s using an abit av8 motherboard and the processor is an AMD Athlon 64 4000+. According to my speedfan program, my cpu is running hot at 51 degrees celsius, is that too hot? Thanks, I appreciate the help!
Anything below 75-80C is fine, anything above should consider cooling.
hi, I have Vaio notebook with processor Pentium M 1.5 GHz and 512 MB of RAM. My processor temperature is from 50 to 90 C (this data are checked by program called Everest). The bottom side of the notebook and the mouse pad are very hot. Is there any chance to substitute with new cooler.
I have Pentium D Dual core 2.8 Ghz Processor
My Processor temp is 68 C
My Computer do always shutdown. can anyone help me??
Hi Everyone. I am running a Pentium Dual-Core 1.6ghz processor. My CPU temp is 21 Degrees Celcius, which is fine but I’m worrying about my system temp that goes up to 50 Degrees celcius at times.
I live in a very hot place and I don’t know if this can be attributed to the 50 Degrees. I have a cowling on my left side panel blowing in air and a extracting fan blowing out air on the back of my case.
What should I do to bring my System temp down by at least 10 Degrees.
Thanks
hi i have had this come for 2 years now, just upgraded the vid card to 512 e-geforce 7600GT(said it didntpass the windows logo test when i installed it)…i got a new 500 watt power supply to handle it…but when i try to play a game like world of warcraft or cs it freezes eiather imidiatly or after between3-15 min of play….i got he mother board temp thing ..says my core is at 85C is that normal? and CPU like 31. on ur forum its says shouldned b over 70 …so what should i do ….i even had a big house fan on it with the case off…and it didnt help
My comp specs.
AMD Sempron™ 3100+ Processor
(1.8GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 256KB L2 Cache)
Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (SP2)
Chipset: VIA K8M800 chipset
Memory: 256MB DDR (1 × 256MB) RAM, 400MHz (PC3200)
Expandable to 2GB
Hard Drive: 40GB HDD (PATA, 7200rpm)
Optical Drive: 48x CD-RW drive
Video: S3 Graphics UniChrome™ Pro
64MB DDR shared video memory
Sound: AC ‘97 Audio, 5.1 Audio (6-Channel)
Network: 10/100Mbps integrated Ethernet LAN
Modem: 56K ITU V.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Premium multimedia dual-language keyboard, 2-button wheel mouse, amplified stereo speakers
Ports/Other: 6 USB 2.0 Ports (2 in front, 4 in back), 1 VGA External Connector, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, 5 audio ports (2 in front, 3 in back)
Dimensions: 14.25″H x 7.25″W x 16″D
Weight: 22.5 lbs (PC only, no packaging)
forgot to mention i upgraded my ram another 1 gig.
hi i have a intel pentium 4 2.93 GH processor and i am able to keep it running at roughly 23-25 celcius i already know that is great but i just wanted to let people know that the best way i have found to cool your cpu by about 10-15 degrees celcius is to upgrade your heatsink and fan to a thermaltake water cooling system. funning at full load i havent seen my pc get hotter than 86 degrees farenheit which i think is like 25 celcius i am not quite sure
fixed my problem…i just bought a new video card…;)
Hi I have a AMD X2 dual core 6000+
But when I measure temps with everest ultimate edition I get three temperature values for the cpu. 2 cpu core temps and 1 cpu temp. Which one should I refer to in your list?
The cpu temps gets up to about 46 Celsius and the cpu core´s around 60 celsius.
Is this ok?
I’ve got a Q6600 8 MB L2 2.40 GHz 1066 MHz?
When im just using it normally it only runs at 1.6 GHz. What multiplyer and clock speed do i use to get it to 2 GHz?
I have a pentium d dual core 2.66
temp is at 74c
is that normal?
if not, how do i decrease?
New mobo, new Pentium D … boot up system and cpu temp is instantly 100C/212F. After one minute the computer shuts off. Help?
Thanks
If you’re using the stock LGA775 heatsink, it’s really hard to seat.
You’ll have to take your motherboard out and set it on a couple of pieces of cardboard. Put some new thermal grease on the heatsink and push the pins down hard. You should hear them click into place, and you’ll see the pins through the rear of the board (they spread out to hold themselves in place).
Contrary to popular belief, the stock heatsink IS NOT BAD. I got an overclocked Pentium D to stay at 27 idle 33 load, which is not bad at all.
my computer runs at 25-30c lol i got a dream machine
if ur pc is shuting off like that it means u are overheating ur cpu BIGTIME it will burn out if u keep booting up cuz iv done it before best bet is to get a new heat sink and fan made for ur clock speed.
FUCK
Hello everyone..! im runing an pentium D 2.8mhz, with an thermaltake ruby orb…i bought cuse i thoug it will decrease my cpu temp..but well i have now 45C iddle and 55 full..is that ok??
hi all, i have temp 88 celcius at my laptop! running intel centrino duo, is it normal ?. also i have some unexpected shut downs when the processor is under pressure! this happens because of the high temp?
i have a P4 3.80ghz running at 127 degrees celius with no programs open on a Biostar mainboard {checked with PC Wizard 2008} is this normal it cut off twice already on its own
This is a handy site and I’ve had it bookmarked for a while now.
I’ve come across a couple of tables that may help you guys with the more recent processors:-
Intel CPU Maximum Temperatures
AMD CPU Maximum Temperatures
I’m not so sure they will answer your questions like above though