ALCPU Forums

This is probably a dumb question, but I have a Compaq Presario F700 laptop, 2G RAM, Vista, Dual core AMD 64 AthlonX2. CoreTemp reports temps of 144/140 degrees F (I don't use Celcius, sorry). Lowest I've seen was 84 right after booting up, but opening a browser window will immediately cause it to jump to about 120 or so.

My question is, what's "normal" for my system?

Settings window shows a range of 74/218 for Core 0. I do have a (cheap) external USB fan also hooked up. I use this machine to play The Sims 2, and lately, it's been getting pretty hot, and as of 2 days ago, it has started shutting itself down at times, which is why I am glad to have found your wonderful program to keep an eye on its temperature.

I am by no means a tech guru, just curious as to when I should worry, and if there's anything I can do (short of not playing Sims on it, I'm addicted) to reduce these temps so I don't end up melting my machine?

if your cpu is running at 218 F you want to make sure your fan is running inside as that is over 100C and yes it should be automatically shutting down at that point.

idealy you want it to have it around less than 140F but then again a lot of laptops these days run really hot. I would download prime95 or some sort of stress software. run that while monitoring your temps. make sure they don't go over 170ishF

Make sure your laptop cooler isn't working *against* your laptop fans. Some of them blow air up, some suck it down.

I also wondered what is "normal" after my HP Pavilion dv8000T started shutting itself down regularly. The symptoms I noticed (before discovering coretemp.exe) were a loud fan and lots of heat. I tried every way I could think of to get the PC to report its CPU temperature -- something everyone in this forum must have done -- without success. After much Googling, I determined that the PC must know core temps because it triggers a shutdown. Google discussions confirmed this info is indeed available but only by querying the bios and jumping through ugly hoops. Then voila! I found coretemp, installed it and proved to myself my HP was simply overheating. What to do, what to do? I read with frustration things others have tried (cooling pads, additional fans, etc.). I got a can of compressed air and blew out the dust from all vents I could without dismantling the machine. There was very little dust so I got depressed, thinking there is no solution. Then I tried something silly, simple, bone-headed and.... it worked! The solution: prop up the back side of the machine on a length of 3/4-inch wood, something that raises the back about the same height as if it's plugged into a standard port replicator. This creates a larger air space under the machine and permits a better airflow into the intake vent. Coretemp had been reporting both cores in the range of 88-95 degrees Centigrade before my "fix", sometimes climbing to 100 and shutting down. Now the coretemp is reporting both cores in the range of 37-62 degrees Centigrade. No shutdowns so far. Yippee! I hope.