Hello! For the past few days my idle CPU temp is around 60C, which is 10-15C higher than normal. I use optimus manager to disable the discrete GPU and use integrated GPU only. I really don’t know what info to provide for resolving. Kindly help.
- Welcome!
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Your laptop model and how long it have been used
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Result of
inxi -Fxxxzcommand -
Have it happened before or with other distro / os?
take a look at htop // glances --percpu from a terminal and watch cpu load and top processes.
Also there should be TLP running and you can enable thermald:
https://endeavouros.com/docs/hardware-and-network/powersaving/cpu-frequency-scaling/
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Asus FX553VD. Three years old.
System: Kernel: 5.8.13-arch1-1 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.19.5 tk: Qt 5.15.1
info: latte-dock, polybar wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM Distro: EndeavourOS
Machine: Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial:
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: GL553VD v: 1.0 serial: UEFI: American Megatrends v: GL553VD.308 date: 04/29/2019
Battery: ID-1: BAT0 charge: 24.5 Wh condition: 36.0/47.5 Wh (76%) volts: 15.6/14.4 model: Simplo SDI ICR18650 type: Li-ion
serial: status: Charging cycles: 33
CPU: Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-7300HQ bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake rev: 9 L2 cache: 6144 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 20004
Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800
Graphics: Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 630 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:591b
Device-2: NVIDIA GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia v: 455.23.04 bus ID: 01:00.0
chip ID: 10de:1c8d
Device-3: Realtek USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam type: USB driver: N/A bus ID: 1-6:3 chip ID: 0bda:57f5 serial:
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: modesetting resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz s-dpi: 96
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 630 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.8 direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel CM238 HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a171
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.13-arch1-1
Network: Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:095a
IF: wlan0 state: up mac:
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8168 v: 8.048.03-NAPI
port: d000 bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp3s0 state: down mac:
IF-ID-1: mullvad-se5 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives: Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 255.27 GiB (27.4%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS721010A9E630 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm
serial: rev: A3J0 scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / size: 47.23 GiB used: 28.22 GiB (59.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda8
Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 2.44 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda9
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 62.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 4200
Info: Processes: 193 Uptime: 2h 05m Memory: 7.66 GiB used: 2.14 GiB (28.0%) Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0
clang: 10.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1265 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 running in: konsole inxi: 3.1.07
- Was using Windows before, didn’t face any issues. This increase in CPU is recent, had no issues before in Endeavour.
TLP is enabled. Ill try out thermald. htop doesn’t show any large CPU process when idle.
Laptops collect dust too, so gently vacuuming it could help.
6 Likes
+1 for dust 
But still it’s not very normal for your system, i’d say…3 years shouldn’t be too much for something like changing thermal interface.
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Try running
powertopto see which processes eating CPU / power too much, maybe something we could narrow down to…
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PowertopPost results here too
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Try LTS Kernel and see if it helps reduce temps
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Since you’re on KDE and we’re speaking of idle, try to disable baloo (file indexing), it may work in idle:
balooctl disable balooctl purge balooctl suspend balooctl status
i would bet on dust or thermalpaste if device is such older then 3 years.
And yea slim down kde is a good idea also, and thermald is a live saver, it tries to hold temperature down with different mechanisms automaticly.
60 degrees is not so much. Your CPU can handle 100 degrees.
But I have noticed that my CPU has to work a little extra on Linux as well. Maybe not in the OS, but with YouTube and similar stuff. On Windows I have no problems with 4k60 for example. 15-20 load. On linux almost max. Has to do with hardware acceleration. It is not as good in linux.
Men try to blow out dust as well!
1 Like
Well for idle it is pretty heavy for any CPU with active cooling… 
Yep, a little high it is!
I have a asus laptop with dual grapics and optimus manager didn’t completely turn off my nvidia chip.I was running 10 degrees hotter than it should also. I used the optimus switch method and that fixed my problem. It might help you.
https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/optimus-switch-another-solution-for-optimus-laptops/7593
I will make sure to try it out.
While I do not have a solution, I may be able to give you an insight as to why your temps may be a bit high.
My Asus FX-504G runs at around 40°C to 50°C at idle with my nVidia card powered on (I use Optimus-Switch). There are a couple of reasons why.
- The temperature around me is warmer than most places. I live in Thailand and the temperature of the air around me is “quiet warm” at around 28°C to 35°C depending on the time of day. This temperature plays a large role in how cool your CPU will run. Your laptop uses a form of Air Cooling, and relies on bringing cooler air from outside to the inside. Because of this, your CPU can never be cooler than the outside air.
- The above photo is the cooling solution used by my laptop. Many laptops use a similar solution. The GPU is on the left and the CPU is on the right. As you can see, they “share” a heat pipe. This means that the heat from one component can transfer over to the other. At the end of the heat pipes are fins. When you remove the dust from your system, make sure to clean those as well as your fans. Those fins are where the majority of your thermal transfer to the ambient air happens. Also, because of this shared heat pipe arrangement, having the GPU completely “turned off” when not in use will definitely decrease your CPU temps.
One thing that can affect the heat of your CPU is the speed it is running at. It will be hotter when running at its “boost frequency” than its base clock. Modern CPU’s are designed to lower their clock speed when at idle and increase it when “more power” is needed. If your CPU is not doing this, and staying at its “turbo clock” speed, it will definitely cause your system to run warmer. I had this issue when the 5.4.x series of kernels were released. You might want to check to see if this is what is happening here.
You can find this out by ussing one of the following:
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inxi -C -
hwinfo --short --cpu
Both will give you what the clock speed your processor is rated at and what speed it is running.
5 Likes
Yes, and having recently performed this for a client’s Asus 504, I know that those fans are not particularly good, and can whine like crazy when a few years old, which makes them inefficient as they are not symmettrical any longer.
It is an easy job to replace them; order the right parts for your model from ebay (get both fans:-you may as well!), and some new heatsink compund. When you’ve got all that together, ground yourself, undo the 2 screws holding each fan, carefully remove the fan wiring, then remove all the screws holding that heatsink system onto the CPU/GPU (carefully!) - the whole lot comes away as one unit, as the fans are taped on to the inside of the sinks. Remove the fans, use an old toothbrush to clean the copper fins where the fans push the air, replace with the new fans, carefully wipe the old caked heatsink compound from the CPU/GPU using a static-free rag, then reapply new heatsink compound, and reinstall the heatsink/fans/screws.
3 Likes
Yup, it is that easy. I have already done what you describe recently not only to my own laptop and other systems I own, but for some of my clients as well. Because of how hot it gets here, I do a general system clean every month and a full on clean every year. On my laptop, I replaced the stock thermal paste with Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut. It helped a bit. Instead of the CPU getting to 90°C under full load, it tops out at 84°C. I will be replacing the fans in about another year or so. With the ambient temps I have, there is not much more I can do.
4 Likes
Wow, that’s impressive! 
2 Likes
I had exactly the same problem a few months ago. One of my older daughters gave her youngest brother her old laptop. It ran so hot after half an hour that you literally couldn’t hold it on your lap for more than a few minutes. When we pulled the fan out to clean the fins, there was a solid wall of packed dust that we pulled out in a single piece that was about 5mm thick. I put new paste on (as I already had it apart) and the temp went from almost 90C to just under 60C.
You think that you teach your kids better, then something like this makes you wonder what else they ignored.
3 Likes