What temp should my cpu be below to prevent damage

I use my m11x on my bed (also i live in australia and its almost summer = v hot) usually and it gets quite hot. what temp should my cpu stay below to be safe? want to try and only overclock so much so that it stays below damaging point...

right now i have throttle stop at 30/30 and overclocked to 150 and throttlestop is saying my cpu temp is 50-52C

 

That is a terrible idea (the bed thing). Keep it elevated. I prefer to keep mine at 35-45C.

Just so you know, the hardware is rated for 107C. I wouldn't go over 60, myself.

 

TalonH is correct. Its consistency really. 80c constantly will definitely damage and cause degradation. 107c will kick'n the safety feature of the system which will turn off the comp. Now remember that your graphics card will definitely be higher and heat does its mathematical exchange so one thing I have found out is to elevate the fan and definitely don't have it covered. There are some lap cooling pads out there you might want to look at getting one.

 

I used my old MacBook on my bed all the time and it never ha problems but I know my girlfriends burnt out within a year.
So getting an elevated cooling pad so that when you do have it on your bed it is uncovered is pretty important, but you still will be pretty likely to pick up loads of crap through the fans having it that close to you bed.

 

The following link holds most of the required information on CPU temperature thresholds for the M11xR1

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/530689-worried-about-overheating.html

This has parallels with the M11xR2.

I've used a small aluminum whiteboard as a small 'desktop'. Light and mobile.

Have a 2½ x 2 foot piece of wood over the arms of the lazy boy as a lounge room 'desktop'.

This allows 'clean' air flow as designed and keeps the laptop off ones lap.

 

thanks for all the suggestions ill try find something that lets the air flow when im on my bed. the whiteboard idea DrGoodvibes suggested sounds perfect or a maybe ill invest in a cooling mat.. either way ill make sure i work somthing out and not oc too much

 

When I convert HD videos (from my video camera) sometimes they take 1 hour, and I always check the CPU temp. and when converting, is always 60-62°C, and even the program that I use for the temp. change the color of the temp to orange (like a warning)

But if I use the A/C in my room, the temp can get around 57-59°C...

I have the m11x R2...

 

Here's what Intel has to say.



The PROCHOT# signal in these Intel CPUs goes active at 105C. Intel says when that happens, "the processor has reached its maximum safe operating temperature." That means as long as you are operating your CPU below this temperature, it is perfectly safe.

It doesn't make too much sense that Intel would set this limit this high if all their CPUs were going to degrade and need replacement. That would cost Intel a fortune if your 60C number was true.

The Intel specified thermal shutdown temperature isn't until 130C.

You can look your processor up here to find out the maximum TJunction temperature that Intel has set.
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=43402

 

60 is hot (relatively) but nothing to be worried about, especially on these computers. laptops consistently run hotter than desktops. I always elevate the rear of the laptop and clear the intake/exhaust area. You also want to keep fibers and anything that might have dust or funk in it away from the computer.

 

My bad unclewebb I meant to say 80 it was 12:06 am for me. HAHAHA Would have caught it sooner or later.

 

80C, 90C and 100C are all considered safe operating temperatures according to Intel. Most people worry too much about their core temperature when Intel says that there is no need to worry. Intel tests and designs their CPUs so they can run 100% reliably at core temperatures that most users would consider to be extreme.

 

if it's true that it's safe to run our core temps up to 105c and experience no degradation, i wonder where all of these "rumors" that you can't run your laptop over 80c safely have come from (i've heard this said over and over). i want to say it's because by 100c the laptop is like boiling water lols but idk (has anyone ever hit 100c with this laptop? i can't imagine that it would be easy, unless if your ambient temp is high and you're blocking your vents).

 

On the internet, if enough people keep saying the same thing over and over again it can somehow magically become true. I prefer to rely on information directly from the manufacturer.

If your computer is running 100% stable and not thermal throttling then there's no reason to give your core temperature a second thought. Intel builds some incredible thermal management technology into their CPUs so users don't need to worry about this.

 

Whats the best CPU temp monitoring software?

 

I regularly hit mid to high 80's on both the the CPU and GPU for hours on end. It's because I use ThrottleStop and overclock to get the best performance out of games like Black Ops and FFXIV. I haven't noticed any stability issues due to the heat and it hasn't concerned me that much to get a laptop cooler. What I did do to alleviate some of the fan noise and heat is add a $1.00 cup coaster to the underside of the m11x, this raises it just enough to get decent circulation. I did this more for the fan noise though not the heat but they're related

Anyway, stop worrying, these Intel i5/i7 CPU's are built to take a beating.

 

With an overclocked M11x R2, you should be using ThrottleStop to maximize your performance so you can also use that to monitor your CPU core temperature. It has full logging and an option to report the temperature of the hottest core in the system tray.

You could also try HWMonitor or RealTemp or Core Temp. I think Core Temp has a useful widget now.

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Download Real Temp 3.60 | techPowerUp

Core Temp

All software is reading information from the same sensors so there shouldn't be any big difference between any of them.

I agree 101%.

 

Throttlestop voids my warranty...

Thanks I now use Core Temp.

 

Did someone at Dell tell you that? The last time I heard that, the Dell rep quickly changed his mind and admitted that you can run whatever software you want on your computer. After all, it is your computer.

When you go into the bios and overclock an Alienware M11x R2 with a Core i5-540UM, at full load, your CPU will run slower. Here's an example of what happens to these UM CPUs that Dell is installing in the M11x R2.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6845641-post482.html

Dell could be in trouble for false advertising.

When you market a product as overclockable, that implies to the end user that their computer will run faster but a fully loaded M11x R2 runs slower when you overclock it.

If you are interested in maximizing your CPU performance then ThrottleStop is your only option. Check out the difference in the 3DMark06 CPU Score with and without ThrottleStop running.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6895337-post88.html

The overclockable feature that Dell has sold you is crippled in the Core i5/i7 UM processors.

 

I can understand you all not worrying about your CPU temps and all but I'd be concerned if the inside of my PC got to be 150F plus.

 

lol I always tell my girlfriend not to do that either! She is always leaving it on top of her bed. She has a big 17" Toshiba Satellite with an older ATI mobile card in it. It's dated hardware but man, that thing makes her blanket feel as warm as an electric one. I usually let her borrow my cooling pad for my m11x as it's big enough to support her computer. One time I wanted my pad back so I took one of her cookbooks and said, "Here, use this."

 

The gpu temps on mine usually hit 55+ to 60s.. never 70 thou. is that normal?
palm rest area usually gets quite uncomfortable after awhile.

could it be coz its 'perma' hook up to an LCD via HDMI?

 

how r u getting ur gpu to get to 80, mine gets to 74 then throttles down (even w powermizer disabled)

 

Got mine to 74 yesterday playing WoW. Haven't had it that high playing other games from what I recall.

 

Im permahooked too and my gpu continuously hits 70, then throttles at 74...can this have much effect on the GPU temp (plugging into external monitor)

 

Same thing for me, max i've seen is around 76 GPU in wow on my R1. Most other games hit mid to high 60's at the highest.

 

For those geting over 74 on GPU Temp, do u use powermizer or is it disabled (by default its enabled).

also are u OC'n your Graphics card?

 

After I've used throttlestop the problem stopped, I think it's more like a CPU throttle? When it gets hot it disables turboboost and makes your CPU speed REALLL ugly~~~ it's like below 1GHz I think.......