How hot is too hot?

for Core 2 Duo T7200?

I'm sure different chips run at different temperatures. Different speeds also. I read somewhere that Core 2 Duo are suppost to run at moderate temperatures but mine doesn't seem to (55-60 idle surfing). I would have expected it to be cooler.

I suppose the question i'm getting to here is what temperature, with decent cooling and no overclocking, should i hope for my chip to run at? surely less than what i've got at the moment. and what temperatures would i damage my chip at? i know it depends on time too, but i;ve had it running at 80+ for 1 hour + several times (before i got the old air duster out).

furthermore, i'm thinking of replacing the thermal paste with something of better quality. i assume that most laptops come with a standard thermal pad, rather than 'lovingly applied thermal grease'. i'm sure many of you out there must have done it. is a thermal pad used most of the time? (although i'm sure it varies between manufacturers). how much of a difference did you see?

 

All depend on ambient temp.
BTW cleaning your vents & reapplying thermal paste will down your core temp

 

85-90 is about the max of these chips. If you're under that, then it's just hot, but not dangerously.

You might wanna invest in a cooling pad and look into undervolting if your cpu is that hot.

 

80 would be the hottest I would leave my laptop at.
Won't leave it unattended though

 

Seems kind of high. You may want to download Core Temp 95.4 to see what the individual cores are at (not sure what your 55-60 refers to), and Prime95 25.4 to stress both the cores. I recently upgraded the M65 ( http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4038 ) from a T2400 to a T7600 and checked core temps pretty carefully: 43/75C, give or take, idle/load. I would think your T7200 should be about the same or lower.

Good thermal grease may help, but there may be issues (e.g. how the heatsink is installed), which you won't necessarily know unless you have a look inside. But removing the keyboard, palmrest, etc., will give you a chance to give it a good clean, which may be just what's needed.

 

Over 80 is bad. I'd rather keep mobile chips well below 70 at full load, idling around 50. The chip can handle that temperature but long time exposure to such temps will kill your hard disk and dvd drive, I know, I've seen it happen a few times.

This is the problem with Intel's latest chips, they can run pretty hot. The T7700 I reviewed on the Zepto Znote 6625WD went over 80 degrees a few times.

I'd suggest undervolting the cpu and buying a cooling pad.

 

My cpu t7200 is idleing on speedfan @:
Core 1 25c
Core 2 24c
CPU 37c

Confusing as id think the cores would be warmer than the overall temp but thats what it reports... and That cpu temp (37C) is consistant through all the minitoring apps I use... Most over apps dont show core temps
Because the cpu is with the GPU the max temp it gets ti is around 59c and gpu 61c!!! thats after gaming for a good 5 hours I dunno but that seems too warm to mee.

 

Speedfan seem's to give me funny temperatures, much lower than what NBC and RM Clock are saying.

55-60 refers to temperature, in deg celcius, when computer is idle or mild load (like surfing). Mostly sticks around 60.

I gave it a good clean with the air duster, blew big clumps of dust out and tempertures went down to 60 as above, which is a bit too warm for my liking. It's ok, but i'm sure it can go cooler. So the next step is thermal grease, see how effective that is, then maybe invest in a cooling pad (maybe this one when it's available http://www.overclock3d.net/news.php?/cases_cooling/akasa_announces_gemini_notebook_cooler/1).

Wondering if i've done my chip any damage in taking it up to such high temps (95). These high temps wern't sustained for too long (a minute becaus eof NHC shutdown). Is there anyway to inspect the damage? A program of some sort?

 

My T60p that I've upgraded to a T7200 from a T2500 idles with winamp playing at about 42-44. It gets in to high 30s when it's completely idle.

The T2500 idled a few degrees higher for some reason. Load is a different story the T2500 would max around 75 full system load but the T7200can push 85. This is under full system load, CPU and GPU at max clocks both cores and the GPU being stressed.

 

Much of the idle temp is defined by some choices the manufacturer makes. Do I go for a very quite notebook that has slightly higher temps or a very cool notebook with slightly more noise.

 

Yeah that's always the trade off. When playing BF2 i use headphones so it doesnt matter if the fan is going like crazy, i just want to keep my laptop cool. but if i'm leaving it downloading over night, i want it quiet as poss because i sleep in the same room (although we don't share a bed).

I've been making use of RMClock recently. The different power modes seem to working quite well for temperature/noise.