Cpu running hot?

My new asus ultrabook's CPU is running at around 49C when all I'm doing is doing light word work and surfing the internet. The idle temperature is around 42C. Is this somewhat hot?
Also, under "high performance mode" and "entertainment mode", the core speed rapidly fluctuates between 0.8ghz and 1.9ghz even though my cpu usage is only between 0 and 10 percent. Again, should I be concerned?

It used to run much much hotter (up to 70C surfing the net), but since i updated BIOS it went to these temps.

Here are the computer specs:

Mfg Part#: UX31A-R7202F-N
Processor: Intel Core i7 3517U 1.9ghz
Computer Hard Drive: 256GB Sandisk U100 SSD
Display Type: High-definition IPS
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium
RAM: 4GB DDR3

 

49C on light work isn't what I'd call hot really, pretty much par for the course for an ivy bridge CPU.

 

I understand that its not really that hot, but I guess it doesn't live up to its expectations..

Review Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A Ultrabook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

According to that, the same model with the i5 3317U achieves a peak of 33C without load and 44C in the "stress test" (which I have no clue about). My laptops idle temp is around the stress temp of the i5??

 

Far more important is the max temperature under load. If you're staying well under the maximum temps at which the CPU throttles then you're fine.

 

..The ux31 with a "U" processor isn't really supposed to idle near 50 degrees, though. Doubt ignoring it is a good idea either. The way it's designed makes it uncomfortable to use as well then, that sort of thing.

So if it's not the usual "I've just installed Windows, and now I have a week of invisible update runs in the background to run before the laptop stops frying my fingers" problem -- it really shouldn't be that high.

 

There any random updates running in the background though. I've also restored the laptop to factory defaults just to make sure my tweaking didn't affect anything.

And it is a slight problem because like nipsen posted, it's not very comfortable for lap usage. In addition what's bothersome is the fan noise; it runs for the majority of the time.

Is this a hardware issue? Perhaps a defective cpu?

 

No, defective cpu wouldn't work at all. If it's anything physical, it's usually.. well, more or less... one out of two things:

1. Bad mount of cpu or gpu cooler element.
If the processor heats up too much before heating up the copper cooler, the seat around the processor and then the motherboard will be hot. Often screws and so on that will lead heat into the chassis and nearby components then.

(In your case, not high enough temps on the cpu for that).

2. Bad heat pipe construction, and/or mount.
Heat is led off the cpu, but the heat-pipe won't actually absorb enough heat for the radiator on the other end to work properly either. This is extremely common on laptop designs. And you end up with parts of the laptop, "nearby" specific components, being way too hot.

(This might be a problem on your laptop, since you say it's uncomfortably hot even when the cpu is just 50 degrees).

That being said, if the readout on the cpu die is wrong in your stats-program (it sounds like the "main package" instead), and something is preventing the cpu from going to rest (which has other side-effects in windows as well. It's possible (as in I've seen it happen several times) that people will install a fresh install, and not install acpi scripts from the manufacturer -- and end up with a computer that never completes background "static" compilation of .net libraries..). If that, then you could be running at pretty much full speed, and the behaviour is completely normal. The zenbook is ...well-known for being uncomfortably hot when running at full burn.

So try doing two things before giving up on it. Install the acpi/atk package from asus for your model.

And run.. something.. open a command shell as admin. Find the "cmd" program and click open as admin. Then go to
c:\windows\Microsoft.net\v2...something, somethingorotherlotsof numbers\
(cd c:\windows\etc, and hit tab to complete the directory names).

Then run "ngen.exe executequeueditems"[sic]

And let the background assembly of the static .net libraries complete. If you still don't see the a normal idle behaviour then, it might be something physical.

 

Your temp itself is fine. What's far more important is your max temp during stress. As long as it stays below 105c, your CPU will work fine. It may reduce its performance according to values in BIOS (AKA throttle). As long as your chassis is isolating the heat from reaching you, you should not worry about it too much. Now, if the heat does reach you and make you feel uncomfortable, that's a bad design and you should consider returning the laptop.

Your CPU can't be defective if it works. Your CPU may be a low-bin (low quality) chip if temp is higher than usual though. Thin & light laptops sometimes sacrifice cooling capacity for quietness and so on. This might be such a case.

 

Agreeing with both alucasa and nipsen, here: the idle temp being at near 50 C on an ultra low power CPU is too high, though alucasa is right in that that temp in itself is not - by any means - dangerous.

Still worth investigating, even though you won't be causing any damage to your machine running it at that temp.

 

Thanks for all the replies! I'm going to be sending this unit in for an RMA.

I know its not causing damage, but the fan's noise on the supposedly silent zenbook is very annoying.

@nipsen, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with your cmd commands...

 

Bah! Kids nowadays...

It's just that some commands need to be run with elevated privileges. And in windows they /sometimes/ launch sub-routines that rely on a return-context that also has elevated privileges. So instead of just running a shortcut with the command (which might not allow elevated privileges for the next command), you really have to have a command shell open with admin rights. Or a "command prompt", in windowsian.

In win8 and win7 you should be able to open one with admin rights by searching for "command prompt", or writing cmd (this is the name of the 32-bit executable). And then right-clicking on the icon and "launch as admin", or something like that.

What the command up there does is to run a program that launches a script that completes a service queue that is created at each new .net version install. This is some compilation of .net libraries, that is supposed to only be done when the computer idles.

Meaning that, for the first couple of hours (or more if you're lucky) you're using your laptop with a fresh win-install, you're not actually going to see it idle at all. Because the computer will launch an invisible task every time the computer drops to idle speeds.

And since it's a system task, it's invisible to you as a user, and indeed invisible to your admin shell with elevated privileges as well - since it only runs for the "system" user, that technically logs on right before you log on to your user-account, and runs concurrently with everything you do.

Hope you've enjoyed this lecture series I like to call "Moronic system design triumphs again!". But the point is that you could actually get pretty heavy loads because of this background compilation, while you expect the computer to idle. And the less cores you have, and the less cooling, the more pronounced and noticeable it's going to be.

And, of course very likely cause an extra rma or two (which is pure loss on the reseller in certain cases), like we likely see a good example in this thread.

Other than that, yes, the zenbook fan is pretty annoying. No idea what happened there either. Buy one of the vivobooks with an apu instead, imo.

 

I'll second this. My kid has an HP with a core i in it and I have an Asus with an A10 and the A10 idles and generally runs a lot cooler, espeically at lower load levels. Since the first gen core i CPUS the intels have gotten hotter and hotter. I hope Haswell is reversing at least some of that.

 

A lot of it is due to power density being much higher with the die shrink, the same power consumption is now over a smaller area.

 

Aye, and the current APUs have a 32 nms manufacturing process, v.s. Core CPUs with a 22 nms process. Though Haswell has closed the gap in TDP quite a bit.