High temperature CPU

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

Hi,

TL;DR: Newbie trying to solve high temperature CPU

I try to solve high temperature of the CPU (see sensors results)

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +59.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +55.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +55.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +52.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +55.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 4:        +51.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 5:        +55.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

dell_smm-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
fan1:        1395 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, max = 5300 RPM)
temp1:        +71.0°C
temp2:        +46.0°C
temp3:        +35.0°C
temp4:        +42.0°C
temp5:        +53.0°C
temp6:        +55.0°C
temp7:        +29.0°C

nvme-pci-7300
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +33.9°C  (low  =  -0.1°C, high = +82.8°C)
                       (crit = +84.8°C)
Sensor 1:     +33.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)
Sensor 2:     +39.9°C  (low  = -273.1°C, high = +65261.8°C)

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +53.0°C

ucsi_source_psy_USBC000:002-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
in0:           5.00 V  (min =  +5.00 V, max =  +5.00 V)
curr1:         0.00 A  (max =  +0.00 A)

ucsi_source_psy_USBC000:001-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
in0:          20.00 V  (min =  +5.00 V, max = +20.00 V)
curr1:         4.50 A  (max =  +4.50 A)

BAT0-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          17.23 V
curr1:       213.00 mA

I do not play video games with my DELL laptop, just doing web and text. And my CPU is always between 50 and 90°C. I’m afraid of damaging my computer.

The fan is regularly activated and the CPU usage is always under 10%.

I do not understand why these high temperatures. My previous laptop did not act like that with archlinux distros.

I’d love to hear your ideas on this problem.

My configuration :

System:
  Kernel: 6.8.2-arch2-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: i3 v: 4.23 Distro: EndeavourOS
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Precision 3561 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 03CRCP v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.8.0 date: 12/10/2021
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 48.6 Wh (100.0%) condition: 48.6/64.0 Wh (76.0%)
CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: 11th Gen Intel Core i5-11500H bits: 64 type: MT MCP
    cache: L2: 7.5 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 818 min/max: 800/4600 cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
    5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 1017 11: 800 12: 800
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel TigerLake-H GT1 [UHD Graphics] driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU117GLM [T600 Mobile] driver: N/A
  Device-3: Microdia Integrated_Webcam_HD driver: uvcvideo type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    dri: iris gpu: i915 resolution: 1: 1920x1080~60Hz 2: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.0.4-arch1.2
    renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (TGL GT1)
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake-H HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.8.2-arch2-1 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.4 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Tiger Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 88:d8:2e:2b:26:bd
  Device-2: Intel Ethernet I219-LM driver: e1000e
  IF: enp0s31f6 state: down mac: 00:be:43:44:be:6a
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter driver: r8152 type: USB
  IF: enp0s13f0u2u1 state: down mac: 00:be:43:44:be:6b
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX201 Bluetooth driver: btusb type: USB
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: disabled
    rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: N/A
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 209.43 GiB (43.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: SK Hynix model: BC711 NVMe 512GB
    size: 476.94 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 450.79 GiB used: 209.35 GiB (46.4%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16.89 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 60.0 C mobo: 46.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 1549
Info:
  Memory: total: 16 GiB note: est. available: 15.36 GiB used: 2.66 GiB (17.3%)
  Processes: 270 Uptime: 23m Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.33
2

Start from the basics. How old is your Dell laptop? How long since you last reapplied thermal paste? How long since you last cleaned the heat sink?

At least post some hardware info.

What laptop model? What CPU? If it’s an i7 crammed into an ultra slim laptop, then it’s going to run hot no matter what.

1 Like
3

To add to this have you opened it up to check for dust clogging up the fan? Got a couple of free PCs this way before

4

Thanks for your quick answer.
I just edit my first post, I do not copy/paste properly. Now there is some correct hardware information.

I use a very recent DELL laptop, since less than one year.

It is an i5 CPU on my laptop.

5

Max operating temperature is 100C, so as long as you it doesn’t hit above 100C I would think you should be fine.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/213804/intel-core-i511500h-processor-12m-cache-up-to-4-60-ghz/specifications.html

Maybe your laptop has collected a lot of dust, you could try and clean it out and see if that lowers the temperature and check if all the fans are still working.

6

Yes, me too. But since I have it for a short time, I just cleaned it from the outside. Didn’t think it could be that dusty in this very short time.

1 Like
7

Thanks.
I saw that the critical temperature was around 100°C but I was skeptical that it would have any impact on the computer. The left side of my keyboard is always quite hot.

Right now, I have just a Firefox window opened, and the temperature is around 75°C.

8

Consistently? That’s not normal. What’s the room temperature? What other background processes are running?

Edit:

Does the temperature drop after switching power profiles? You can check the current power profile with

$ powerprofilesctl
9

could be you have settings in the Bios for the fancontrol, this could be set to higher RPM

1 Like
10

and indeed check the power-profiles-daemon mode…

11

First thing I would do is open that bad boy up and clean the fan and heatsink and if you have some thermal paste I would also repaste the cpu and gpu.

2 Likes
12

Or if you can’t do it yourself, go to a computershop and have them do it for you.

1 Like
13

Agreed. This is definitely the most practical thing to do.

@Srrgcmmc The manufacturer probably did a sh*t job of applying the thermal paste. In which case, replacing the thermal paste with a high quality one would be a good idea in the long run.

If it’s still under warranty, you can even get one of their technicians to your location for the service.

1 Like
14

I don’t know how to check what are other processes in background. Except looking at htop. But nothing seems to be energy-consuming.

Room temperature is normal (between 17-20°C).

Good advise ! The temperature has dropped by an average of ten degrees since I changed my profile from balanced to power-saver. I am now around 60°C, is that the same for people working on laptop ? (web and text, nothing else)

15

Who control this speed ? Is that linear to the CPU temperature ?
Do the graphic card has its own fan ? Because I don’t succeed in installing the driver for my nvidia.

I will look at bios parameters :+1:

16

I use the laptop at work, it is not mine. They let me installed the distro I want, but do not manage it ; only if I had kept Windows or Ubuntu installed on it.

But I will try to open it to see if some dust block the fan.

Thanks to everyone for your help. I’ll come back to tell what solution is the best.

17

It depends on the processor. On normal business class laptops with AMD chips, it’d never reach that high. For example, my Ryzen 5 thinkpad idles at around 35 - 39 degrees celcius. When browsing normal web pages, it goes up to about 40-42 deg. The machine you’re running is a mobile workstation. Even so, 60 deg is a little bit high for just normal web browsing (on power-saving mode, some more).

If the heat is still posing an issue after unclogging the fans, you can consider scaling your CPU frequency via software tools such as thermald. There’s a lot of information on this on the Arch Wiki if you’re really interested.

18

EndeavourOS has power-profile-daemon installed and enabled by default, and on intel CPUs it should already do a good job to keep it cool.
But in case Bios settings are in the way overwriting it p.e.