How to check the CPU tem­per­a­ture

It is common knowledge that a computer quickly becomes hot due to the many cal­cu­la­tions of the CPU. You can easily find out exactly how high the tem­per­a­ture of your processor is by dis­play­ing the CPU tem­per­a­ture. The most in­for­ma­tive CPU tem­per­a­ture is measured at the in­di­vid­ual processor cores.

The in­for­ma­tion about the model and per­for­mance range forms the basis for assessing the CPU tem­per­a­ture. There are various tools to determine it, as Windows itself does not provide this in­for­ma­tion. It is possible to view CPU capacity via the Task-Manager with Windows and the command “top” on Linux as well as its course in the last 60 seconds and to check what share the running programs and processes have in this load.

If you want to access the tem­per­a­ture sensors of your CPU to display the CPU tem­per­a­ture, you cannot avoid in­stalling ad­di­tion­al programs. The best-known such programs are Core Temp and HW Monitor.

If you do not want to install ad­di­tion­al tools, you can have the CPU tem­per­a­ture displayed in the BIOS. However, you must bear in mind that the values there are higher than in Windows or Linux mode. This is because energy con­sump­tion in the BIOS is not regulated downwards.

A popular ap­pli­ca­tion that you can use to view your CPU tem­per­a­ture is Core Temp. We will show you step by step how to find out your proces­sor's tem­per­a­ture with Core Temp.

First you need to download Core Temp. You can follow this link to the official Core Temp website to do that. After you have suc­cess­ful­ly down­loaded the ap­pli­ca­tion, the installer will open. Follow the in­stal­la­tion in­struc­tions. After that you can start the program.

In the column “Min.” you can read the minimum and, in the column, “Max.” the maximum values that were measured in the current time interval. An ex­cla­ma­tion mark next to a value means that the CPU tem­per­a­ture was at least once in the critical range during the evaluated interval.

The program HWMonitor is a popular tool to display various hardware stats of the computer. Among them is the CPU tem­per­a­ture.

First you need to download Core Temp. You can follow this link to the official CPUID homepage to do that. After you have suc­cess­ful­ly down­loaded the ap­pli­ca­tion, the installer will open. Follow the in­stal­la­tion in­struc­tions. After that you can start the program.

As soon as a tem­per­a­ture value reaches or exceeds a critical limit, the cor­re­spond­ing value is colored red. This way you can see im­me­di­ate­ly if your CPU tem­per­a­ture is too high.

To even be able to estimate whether you have a normal CPU tem­per­a­ture, you first have to know the “normal value” or the tolerance range. This is not quite easy, because apart from external con­di­tions like the PC's location or the room tem­per­a­ture, it also depends on the specific processor type. For this reason, the following values are only rough guide­lines:

• Low processor load (in normal operation): about 30 to 50 °C
• Heavy workload due to programs that require high computing power: up to 95 °C
• Maximum tem­per­a­ture should never exceed 100 °C if possible

Proces­sors can withstand very high tem­per­a­tures. The 100-degree mark can even be slightly exceeded for a short time (up to 103 °C is possible with new proces­sors) without damaging the CPU.

However, values around the maximum limit shorten the lifespan because the in­di­vid­ual com­po­nents are extremely sensitive to heat. This sounds dramatic, but it is hardly relevant for average users, since the computer (or CPU) is usually already replaced by a new, more powerful model be­fore­hand to meet the hardware re­quire­ments for the problem-free use of new software.

As a user of a standard PC in normal operation, you don't really have to worry about this question because the operating system usually regulates the CPU tem­per­a­ture by itself. As soon as a tem­per­a­ture pre­vi­ous­ly defined by the man­u­fac­tur­er is reached, the CPU is throttled. This means that the clock rate is reduced and thus less heat is produced until the tem­per­a­ture is within the tolerance range again.

Nev­er­the­less, poorly cleaned fans can cause the CPU tem­per­a­ture to turn out higher than necessary. Therefore, you should make sure to clean your fans regularly.

It looks different when you overclock the CPU to achieve better computing per­for­mance and speed. This is often practiced by gamers for the smooth running of online games.

In this case, the tem­per­a­ture can be lowered for a short time by opening the PC case or using external aids like fans. This supports the fan in its work because the ac­cu­mu­lat­ed heat can be removed faster, and a cooling draft can better reach the over­heat­ed com­po­nents. Such methods provide short-term relief but are not a permanent solution. It often helps to lower the graphics settings to reduce the CPU tem­per­a­ture in games.

If you regularly use com­pu­ta­tion­al­ly intensive programs that drive the CPU tem­per­a­ture up, you can use certain programs to control the speed of the PC fan and adjust it in­di­vid­u­al­ly in this way.

An even more efficient option is to install active cooling (e.g. water cooling). But before that, you should consider whether these measures are suf­fi­cient for your needs or the per­for­mance of your CPU, or whether it doesn't make more sense to upgrade to a more powerful processor.

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