How hot is too hot for my CPU?

[BraveHot]

Intel Core i5 1135G7 (Tiger Lake-U). Laptop. Intel Integrated Graphics, I've been told (no idea which version, but should be fairly recent). Yes, also been told that this is not optimal, but it's doing well enough for SL. However:

I'm not that computer savvy, but a friend told me to install Core Temp. Right now, with just several Edge tabs open (mostly doing YouTube), it seems to be around 40 C. But it can quickly get up to 80 C and feel really, really hot when running Catznip and doing some heavy tasks in SL.

Is going 80 C for extended periods damaging for my CPU? I see that one of the cores has been as high as 94 C. Again, not that tech savvy, but can follow instructions from those who are and can easily read a Core Temp chart  

It's only two years old. But getting hotter than it was when it was new. No way I'm opening it up by myself, but would something like compressed air be of any use at all?

[Kathrine Jansma]

No, going to higher temperatures for longer does not damage your CPU. In ancient past some CPUs had no throttling when overheating and burned out (e.g. Pentium II era), but that is no longer the case. Modern CPUs have sensors and automatically slow down when getting too hot. Being hot is not a problem. 

Modern CPUs have a base clock and some boost clock speed. If the CPU stays cool, it can trigger the boost and run a bit faster. You can look at the specifications at arc.intel.com.

Intel Core i51135G7 Processor 8M Cache up to 4.20 GHz Product Specifications

It tells you the processor may become up to 100°C hot without problems. And that it can boost up to 4.2 Ghz when a single core is working and it is cool enough.

It is sometimes worth it to pay someone to clean your fans for a laptop, remove dust etc. Especially if you smoke or have a lot of dust around your place. Some places recommend to clean fans/vents every 6 months to two years. That usually takes half an hour to an hour for an experienced person with the right tools and can speed up your computer a little bit. Can be 20%. Last time i had someone do it, it was like 30€ for the work and it helped a bit.

You could use compressed air, but thats less efficient for cleaning the fans. There are some guides that recommend it as an easy way to go.

So basically do not worry. You may be able to squeeze out a few more percent of performance or get the machine cooler if you have the fans cleaned. 

 

[Henri Beauchamp]

”Modern” CPUs (and by ”modern”, I mean all CPUs models released in the past 20 years or so) have an auto-throttling mechanism protecting them from damages due to overheating. A badly cooled CPU will just run slower...

Recent CPUs (Anything-Lake for Intel, Zen 3-4 for AMD) are also factory-overclocked and heat up insanely fast (and up to 95 to 105°C, depending on the CPU generation and ”absolute maximum ratings”) and, more often than not, are hitting that throttling limit: this is considered ”normal” operating conditions by their maker...

So, no, you do not risk damaging your CPU via overheating.

However, any piece of Silicon does age, and its performances degrade over time. This aging is faster as the operating temperature increases, but also depends on other factors (such as maximum local currents for the electromigration effect, or the operating voltage for charge trapping effect, etc).

I so far did see the effect of such aging on my good old Sandy Bridge 2500K that I operated during 7 years (and 18H/day in average) at an overclocked frequency of 4.6GHz (i.e. +900MHz over the rated turbo frequency) locked on all cores: after all these years, it started hanging at idle (!) time, roughly once per day, and I had to reduce the frequency to 4.5GHz to prevent this from happening... Today, and yet more years later, it is still working just fine at 4.5GHz in my second PC.

In short: it is likely that even an ”overheating” CPU will get replaced by a new model (because it simply became too weak for your needs) before it even starts to show off some wear out signs. But a good cooling is always a good thing (TM) to preserve your CPU... or allow to push it a few dozen MHz higher ! 😜

Edited December 31, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[Jackson Redstar]

on my last  set up I had a 17 that ran about that hot underload (this is a desktop) when Id render video at that time 100% cpu and the thing was getting toasty, even up to about 84, It used the stock intel cooler. I removed that cooler applied new thermal paste and installed a better cooler on it rarely saw ober 65 after that. But yes the thermal paste can 'go bad' after a while and often it may not have ever been applied properly in the first case. Laptop cooling is even harder. really need to make sure all the airducts are clean and you arent blocking the airflow anywhere near the inlet air is (usualy on the underside). But of course, you could just let the thing run hot and make it an excuse why you need to replace your puter with a new more powerful one! lol