Gaming on a X61 - CPU temperature.

Sorry, but that's not what I'm saying.
First of all, it's nearly impossible to "fry" a chip.
You can run it full load, remove the heatsink and then watch it... do nothing.
It will just throttle down to a halt without sustaining any damage. That's it.

Long term could be a different story.
Running it constantly at elevated temps (85C vs 65) will increase a possibility of failure. By how much, I don't know, but it won't last as long as its cooler running twin.

That being said, if your laptop is designed in the way that it runs generally hot, then so be it. Nothing you can do about that.
But if the similar machines deliver significantly cooler temps under the same conditions, then it should throw some red flags.

From what I can see, just about any modern laptop on the market is designed to run under 85F, fully stressed.
Intel can specify 80, 100 or 120, it doesn't really matter since the cores will never reach or at least will never be allowed to run at the max temps, thanks to the multiple built-in thermal protective features.
Meaning that by running hot you won't be getting full performance since the chip would be running at the reduced clocks.

Again, it will not destroy your chip short term, long term - who knows, but why in the world would you want to run it hotter than similarly designed models?
Here, in the other Lenovo thread, we've established the baseline temps for the T61 thinkpads.
If your T61 or similar is running hotter, then maybe you should take a closer look at the issue (e.g. a possibly malfunctioning fan or not properly seated heatsink).
Maybe some of you could test the X61s in the same manner and report back.

What ticked me off in this thread, is that the OP concern was just disregarded is a non-issue, since the other peoples laptops (totally different designs) are running 90F full time without any damage.
That might be true, but we're talking thermally efficient Lenovo's here.
According to the forementioned tests, the T61s run barely warmer than 70F, both cores at 100% load.
And as we know, there is no game on the market that is capable of stressing the processor in the similar way.

 

No, the thermal safety features aren't activated until the processor reaches and exceeds the specified max temp, meaning that the processor can run at 100C (in this case it's max temp) without being throttled down. Not that I recommend it.

I assume you mean 90C?? And the OP's temps were, and still are, a non issue, as he stated 80C, which is absolutely fine. Untill you provide some kind of reliable source stating otherwise, I will continue to advise that 80-85C is perfectly fine, both short term and long term, for a modern mobile Core 2 Duo.

 

OK, I'm done here.
Good night everyone. :SLEEP:

 

Im using winxp, my idle temps on AC are under 30C. Very annoying because my fan will not shut off

 

I think we should take into account the measure error that was made by the thermal sensors. I don't know about the Core 2 Duo, but on AMD Opteron, it is often that the on-die thermal sensor has a error between +5C ~ -5C.
Personally, I would like to leave 5-10C head rooms. i.e. since Core 2 Duo are rated at 100C, anything higher than 90C will make me worry.
Again, that's just personal preference.

 

85F or 85C? I don't think any laptop on the market right now can run at 85F under load.

 

Yes, 85C of course.

 

How are you guys measuring your temps? I am using speedfan and I think it might be inaccurate. My idle temp is 30c as i mentioned and that seems too low.

 

Core2 Duo incorporates three methods of monitoring die temperature:

Thermal Diode
Intel Thermal Monitor
Digital Thermal Sensor

The TAT utility displays the accurate Digital Thermal Sensor reading (for each core).

 

Speedfan is not inaccurate.
Get the TAT (Intel Thermal Analysis Tool).
The CoreTemp utility seems to be accurate too.
Everest has showed to be pretty accurate also (at least on my computer).

 

What prog do you recommend for controlling the fans? Speedfan doesnt seem to work. I am using XP btw.

*edit*
I've installed TAT but im not sure if i have the latest version because I cannot find the homepage for it. I have 2.05

 

I haven't used this utility though but heard it "works":
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tp4xfancontrol/

That's the version I have. (TAT)

Edit: TPfancontrol doesn't work on my Vista install.

Edit2: got it working after a reinstall. But it requires some reading before use.

 

i use tpfancontrol on my X61, works great, fan is off 80% of the time, you can change the fan cutoff points yourself its easy