How High/Low is Too High/Low (Temperatures)

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nikorev

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Dec 27, 2013
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Hello everyone, I come back to Tom's Hardware to ask what temperatures are too high, too low, and just right for different components.

Also if possible, can you recommend some good programs to get your temperatures for your components. I use CPUID HWMonitor at the moment, but I want to see if I can get something better for FREE.

I want to find out ranges for safe temperatures for your motherboard (including TMPIN0, TMPIN1, and TMPIN2 w/ CPUID if you know) with my Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S20 (varies by motherboard with the TMPs), safe temperature ranges for your processor, ranges for safe temperatures for your hard drive, and ranges for safe temperatures for your GPU.


Originally why I made this forum: I recently downloaded Blacklight Retribution and when I started and played it, I was at 80+% CPU usage. I found this odd as I play many other games that don't go nearly to 60% (Source Games, Arma 2, Borderlands 2, Dead Space, G-mod, Payday 2, Planetside 2, Rust, Surgeon Simulator, and Warframe). I know Source games doesn't take a lot to run, but I thought it was necessary to include. So I searched online and found out I should test my temperatures. I went to around 25 degrees Celsius. I looked at various websites and got different results for what temperatures are safe for different components. I make this post to get all of the information onto one webpage, and one webpage that is surely correct.


So if you could help me, that would be great.


Cheers,
Nikorev
 
Solution
CraigN
CPUID HWMonitor is free? It also works just fine. Not sure what "better" you're looking for in a monitoring program.

25C is pretty cool. What kind of cooler are you using and what is the temperature in your room? That's fairly low.

80% CPU use is fairly normal depending on the game. Some games are more CPU intensive than others. I know my CPU kicks up fairly quite a bit in Skyrim and Starcraft II. It also could speak to the level of optimization that Blacklight Retribution has that its still so CPU dependent.

25-mid 40s/low 50s is safe for your motherboard.

CPU shouldn't exceed mid-60s Celsius at 100% if you can help it, high 40s to mid 50s is ideal. Be seriously concerned if you're hitting the 70s. Thermal limit to force the...
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CraigN

CraigN

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CPUID HWMonitor is free? It also works just fine. Not sure what "better" you're looking for in a monitoring program.

25C is pretty cool. What kind of cooler are you using and what is the temperature in your room? That's fairly low.

80% CPU use is fairly normal depending on the game. Some games are more CPU intensive than others. I know my CPU kicks up fairly quite a bit in Skyrim and Starcraft II. It also could speak to the level of optimization that Blacklight Retribution has that its still so CPU dependent.

25-mid 40s/low 50s is safe for your motherboard.

CPU shouldn't exceed mid-60s Celsius at 100% if you can help it, high 40s to mid 50s is ideal. Be seriously concerned if you're hitting the 70s. Thermal limit to force the computer to shut down is at 90C for most chips.

Unless your HDDs are sitting physically on top of each other, not inside of a drive bay, I wouldn't worry about those temps too much. They don't tend to burst into flames often.

Safe Temperature range for your GPU depends on the manufacturer. Most of the 700-series NVIDIA cards like to operate in the high 60C, low 70C range, and and they try not to exceed 80C. The latest AMD cards *claim* they are safe to operate at 90C...But I wouldn't suggest it, but that's me.

Hope this information was helpful for you.
 
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HiTechObsessed

HiTechObsessed

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Just to slightly amend what CraigN said about the GPUs, modern GPUs from both NVIDIA and AMD now have temperature targets for their automatic overclock. AMD's is set to 85c, which is why cards like the 290x can get very loud. NVIDIA's target is a bit lower, but still overclock until you get there.
 
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CraigN

CraigN

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Thanks for clarifying that, HiTech. Absolutely true, and worded much better. Appreciate it :)
 
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nikorev

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I was waiting for a genius. My CPU mightbe at a low temperature because it is in the coldest room of my house. I did the temperature benchmarks after turning off my heater for the season because it was sprong. It is still cold, so I am guessing that dropped my temperatures. Anyway the game I was scared at first because most games I have, including Borderlands 2 (maxed out) doesn't break 80% CPU usage. Thanks for the temperatures. You have earned the answer.
 
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