A common question we receive is “Is my notebook overheating?”. However, whether or not your notebook is overheating should not determine whether or not you should keep your notebook cool. Heat is the enemy of any electronic device, notebooks included even if the temperatures are within a somewhat acceptable range.

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If you are overheating you can cause permanent damage to your system. It will also shorten the lifespan of your notebook as components face more wear. This can lead to instability of a notebook, such as lock ups, freezing and “random” shutdowns. At the same time, remember that these symptoms can be caused by other issues such as a failing hard drive or a virus as well.

As notebook chassis tend to be compact and full, a single overheating component can cause other components to heat up. The most common case of this is the CPU (Central Processing Unit) or GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) heating up other components such as the hard drive, or even worse they heat up each other.

The harder you push the components the hotter they get. Running benchmarks, playing games or high-definition movies can be CPU or GPU intensive and can push your notebook to the edge if the correct precautions are not taken.

The main precaution is knowledge: knowing when temperatures are just too much for your notebook is important. The sooner an overheating issue is detected the better.

The Four Categories

Notebook temperatures can be split up into four categories: Idle Temperatures, Safe Temperatures, High Temperatures and Threshold Temperatures. These categories represent a range of temperatures pertaining to the explanation of each grouping.

There is no clear line between Idle Temperatures and Safe Temperatures, Safe Temperatures and High Temperatures and so on but they are a good and simple outline to follow when monitoring your temperatures. If you do not know how to measure your temperatures we recommend using HWMonitor as it will record the highest temperature reached. (Note: a more detailed article on how to measure your temperatures will follow soon)

Idle Temperatures

Idle temperatures are the temperatures of notebook components when a notebook is workless (doing nothing) but powered on. There is no set range of idle temperatures as they will vary depending on the model of the notebook. This variation is caused by differences in thermal designs, components and fan programming.

Safe Temperatures

Knowing if your notebook is operating at a safe temperature is relatively simple. Anything below “Dangerous Temperatures” is safe; even a 5 to 10C difference is acceptable as long as it is below the temperatures outlined in the following section.

Dangerous Temperatures

As the name suggests, dangerous temperatures are dangerous. At these temperatures components are set to downclock (slow down) in order to prevent damage from overheating. This preventative measure protects the notebook from any permanent damage. It should be noted that some notebooks will reach these temperatures due to a lack of an efficient thermal design; nonetheless, efforts should be taken to drop the temperatures.

Threshold Temperatures

Threshold temperatures refer to temperatures that put a notebook in harm’s way. At these temperatures a notebook can suffer permanent damage. It is highly recommended to solve any heat issues before they reach these temperatures.

If your notebook is relatively new and reaching Dangerous or Threshold Temperatures it is important to contact the manufacturer immediately. Older notebooks (3 months +) may reach higher temperatures because of dust clogging the fan(s). To remedy this you can follow this guide: Cleaning Your Fans

Even though your notebook may be running within the safe range, it is recommended you keep your notebook as cool as possible. Cooler temperatures can elongate the life of your notebook.

If you have any questions about your notebook’s temperatures feel free to post on our forum.