How hot is CPU running?

[think.t23]

Hi.

I have a thinkpad T23 and installed thinkpad fan control and it's showing my CPU is running at 52°C in Battery optimized performance, 750 Mhz.

is that maybe too hot?

[nikki605]

My T21, 1GHz runs about 40°C when idling according to Mobile Meter. 52°C sounds high for a 750MHz, but under what conditions did you take the reading? Had the CPU been idling for awhile or had you been running applications?

Under load, my CPU will get up to just over 75°C before the fan comes on. After a short time, the temp begins to drop indicating the heatsink/fan is doing its job.

Have you checked the thermal compound between the CPU and the heatsink/fan assembly? When I upgraded my CPU and heatsink/fan assembly, I applied new Artic Silver thermal compound. The old "white stuff" that was there since day one, had become dried out

[think.t23]

thank you for your reply nikki.

I have been running Mobile meter for some hours and it shows CPU temp is around 47-55 °C when working in OpenOffice, Visual Studio etc (750 MHz)

I didn't use atric siilver, just used some no name "white stuff" lying around when I attached the heatsink.

does Artic Silver make much difference?

[nikki605]

The forum members here seem to recommend Artic Silver 5 most often. You can do a search on the web for product reviews. Click here to read one review.

I found it sold locally at a nearby Radio Shack store, or you can buy it online.

[dsigma6]

52C is normal. On my T23 (Vista) I have the fan come on at 45C and go off at 42. Fan will stay on most of the time, but a cool system is a happy system.

[jdhurst]

<snip>
I didn't use Arctic Silver, just used some no name "white stuff" lying around when I attached the heatsink.

does Arctic Silver make much difference?

There is some debate, but as long as the no-name is proper thermal compound, I doubt that Arctic Silver would make much difference. I used no-name decent compound to install a new CPU in my T41 some years ago and the CPU runs 38 degrees or so at idle and not much more that 42 or so in working operation for business use. I really doubt it would be worth while to open up the case and change the compound. The real issue is to apply it smoothly, thinly and completely over the joining surfaces to promote best heat transfer.

This is not to say Arctic Silver is not good or should not be used. I would have used it if it were available at the time. Merely that it is just a thermal transfer compound and other thermal transfer compounds are likely to be quite good assuming any compound is properly applied.
... JDH

[fefrie]

I just got the cpu processor temp monitor mentioned here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=42167

and am wondering what are normal operating temps for the processor and the hdd.

I"ve have a 1.13 t23 with 640mb ram. I don't run any sort of power management program or battery maximiser program. Prefer not to, I like my compters running simple.

I'm getting readings of 42c for the hard drive and for the processor about 50c at idle and about 70c when the processor is fully maxed. The fan seems to kick in at about 60 and shuts off at about 49-53c.

I've read elsewhere that people have been getting temps as low as 38c.

I don't remember ever changing the paste (I got this 2 years ago).

Should I open up and change the paste?

Should I get the arctic silver and it's associated cleaning solution, or would the normal thermal grease be fine??

[AlphaKilo470]

If you can find a tube of Arctic Alumina, I'd go with that for a ThinkPad. IT does a pretty good job transferring heat and is alot cheaper than Arctic Silver. As for cleaning solution, anything alcohol based seems to work. Just be careful when cleaning.

[fleamourian]

I have recently used Artic Cooling MX1 thermal compound & since switching SpeedStep to maximum performance when idling I get temps in the range of 54-60 with wireless PCMIA card. Is this normal? The fan kicks in quite often, I have a T21 with 1 Gig of RAM.

[Purcy]

I have a T21 with 1 Gig of RAM.

Wow, how did you manage that, I thought that model maxed at 512MB RAM? At least mine does.

[fleamourian]

Correction 512 RAM!

[nikki605]

At idle, my 1GHz T21 with no PCMCIA cards plugged in, runs about 40°C according to MobileMeter. After reading your question about running with a wireless PCMCIA card, I installed mine (Netgear) to see. Again, at idle, the temp was between 47-53°C. I then plugged in a second card (Belkin USB-2) and checked again. The temp was still in the same range, going no higher than 58°C. The fan did not come on.

When I started to run other programs, the temp climbed into the 70's, which is when the fan would start to cycle on and off. But at no time did the temp go above 80°C.

This is with a T22 heatsink/fan assembly. Others on this forum recommended this more efficient heatsink when I upgraded the 800MHz CPU to the 1GHz. Glad I upgraded!

[fleamourian]

That is very helpful, thanks. Mine will idle at 40 odd when first turned on but never returns to that after doing some work tho it never goes above 80, but the fan kicks in around 60 -70 depends. So it seems that is normal behavior. I imagine laptops are a [censored] to keep cool what with tower PCs being easier to keep cool than desktops.