Checking your PC’s CPU temperature is similar to checking your car’s oil: You don’t need to do it daily, but you’ll need to check your processor’s temperatures every few months. This is especially true if you regularly strain your system with higher loads like you’ll do with the Best CPUs for gaming , or if you’re an enthusiast that overclocks your CPU.

Ultimately, keeping your CPU temperatures under control improves performance and reliability. Luckily, checking your CPU temperature is simple and doesn’t require you to open up your PC and stick a thermometer inside. Instead, every CPU comes with built-in digital thermal sensors, so all you need is a bit of software to read the measurements in Windows 10, Windows 11, and other operating systems. Checking your CPU temperature is as easy as installing and using monitoring software and then reading the value.

You can download it here opens in new tab. While CAM is intended to be used with the company’s products, it works really well as a casual monitoring tool in Windows 10 or Windows 11, even if you don’t have any NZXT hardware. You can use the software in Guest Mode to avoid creating a user account, and you can also disable the program from starting automatically with Windows if you don’t plan on using it often.

The first block PC Monitoring features the CPU’s status, which shows the load, temperature, clock speed, and cooler fan speed. You can click on this block to access further details, as shown in the second image in the above album. As you can see, the current temperature of this system’s CPU is 36C, which is a healthy idle temperature. This overlay can show you your CPU’s status while in-game, providing you with temperature measurements during your favorite game.

You can also use the Core Temp tool, one of the best CPU temperature tools for Windows, to monitor the temperatures download here. This is a simpler tool that works with a more basic UI. Just be sure to untick the freeware during installation. Core Temp provides temperature measurements for every core in your CPU.

The left-hand side of the measurements shows the real-time temperature of each CPU core, and you can also see the measurements in the taskbar. But we’re more interested in the Min and Max columns, which show the absolute minimum and the absolute peak temperature recorded while the program runs. The CPU in the above image has had a minimum temperature of 32C and a maximum of 51C and is, therefore, running at a normal temperature.

However, if you want to measure the maximum possible temperature, you can check by running a Prime95 stress test for about 30 minutes download here in Windows 10 or Windows Just be aware that this program puts an extremely heavy load on your PC.

The best way to monitor your temperature while gaming is to just have a good session and then check back in with the program to see the maximum recorded temperature. You should be concerned if this figure is at or beyond 95C. Anything between 80C and 95C may have room for improvement. That means you will see much higher use when you are booted into Windows or another operating system.

On the majority of platforms, you simply reboot the system and click delete or F2 repeatedly as it restarts. Again, only use this as an indication of idle CPU temperatures — you should also check from within Windows 10 or Windows 11 to get a better idea of CPU temperatures when you’re using the PC see below.

When the CPU is idle, a safe temperature is anything under or around 50C. Under higher load, such as when playing a game, rendering a video, or other intensive tasks, your CPU consumes more power and, thus, runs at a higher temperature. This ‘load temperature’ is more important than idle temperatures assuming idle temps are fine , so you’ll want to periodically monitor your CPU temperature under load to ensure it’s adequately cooled.

Under load, you want your CPU to ideally stay under 80C, though some CPUs may run hotter when they’re in ultrabooks opens in new tab , gaming laptops opens in new tab , or small-form-factor SFF computers. Additionally, AMD’s Ryzen processors are designed to run at up to 95C with a stock cooler, while Intel’s highest-end Core i9 Alder Lake processors will run up to C during normal operation. As such, while the 80C threshold serves as a good general indicator, it is important to ensure that your processor doesn’t reach its ‘TJ Max’ Temperature Junction Maximum temperature, which is the safe limit for any given processor.

The TJ Max varies by chip, but most monitoring software lists the value. Additionally, you can check the chip’s specifications on the manufacturer’s page. You have some wiggle room to creep past 80C, but anything above 95C is typically critical. At this point, some CPUs will begin throttling, meaning the chip will reduce its clock speed opens in new tab and slow down to ensure it doesn’t overheat, and your PC may turn off.

When running such a stress test, keep a close eye on the temperatures, using the tools mentioned below, and back off once they reach too high above 95C.

We consider an ideal stress test to be one hour long, though your maximum temperature will likely level off after minutes. If you’re looking for specific advice about temperatures and overclocking, head to our How to Overclock a CPU guide. Here’s a checklist of things to look for:. For SFF PCs and laptops, it’s possible that there’s minimal cooling, as the device was never intended to be used under high loads for extended periods of time.

For example, most laptops come with very compact cooling solutions that work well for short-term performance bursts but need to slow down during extended gaming sessions to stay below the shut-off threshold. Gaming laptops opens in new tab are often bulky because they’re packed with extensive cooling systems. If you are using a full-size gaming PC opens in new tab , however, and think your cooling should be adequate, you may want to re-apply thermal paste to your CPU opens in new tab.

Most thermal paste’s performance seriously degrades after about three years. Applying fresh paste here’s a list of the best thermal pastes and cleaning the system from dust can offer much better cooling power and significantly better performance. This applies both to pre-built and custom-built PCs opens in new tab.

Additionally, as part of any PC tune-up, you’ll want to make sure that your cooler is adequate. Many of the stock CPU coolers that come either bundled with the CPU or installed in pre-built systems aren’t adequate to give you the full performance of the chip. You’ll need to follow the stress testing steps outlined above to check CPU temperatures under load in Windows 10 or Windows 11 to ensure that the cooler doesn’t get overwhelmed by the CPU when it is under heavy load.

He writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage and enterprise hardware. Tom’s Hardware Tom’s Hardware. Image 1 of 2. Paul Alcorn opens in new tab. With contributions from Niels Broekhuijsen. More about cpus. Topics CPUs. See all comments 5. I keep afterburner running on one of my monitors, so i check it all the time, doesn’t everyone? In this article, it is said “it is important to ensure that your processor doesn’t exceed its TJ Max”. However, it is not possible to exceed the TJ Max because there are internal thermal control mechanisms in the CPU that are automatically reducing power if you reach TJ Max.

In this article, the popular examples of monitoring programs are all proprietary software. It means that they can contain malicious functionalities and it is hard for the user to trust them. So, I recommend an alternative open-source monitoring program like openhardwaremonitor.

I do a modest overclock and say “good enough”. It keeps the temperature down to a reasonable level and I can get away with air cooling. Frankly, it is really hard to see the benefits of overclocking the CPU anymore except in certain programs. Normally I go for the optimal balance between voltage and speed. On my previous X I could do 4. Now tell us how to turn on PC.

14 Best Free CPU Temperature Monitor Software For Windows

An advanced analyzing tool, this can create a report in several file types e. Other than your CPU, SIW helps you track areas like motherboards, memory, network adapters, video card, sound devices, operating systems, certificates, open ports, connections, and plenty more.

There are three different versions of the program you can purchase. It all depends on how much monitoring you need. There are many ways to fix overheating problems. You can use simple techniques such as dusting the CPU fan, using a more powerful air cooler fan on your CPU or applying new thermal paste.

Besides liquid cooling, you can use any of the following simpler techniques to lower and maintain normal temperature for CPUs:. You cannot go wrong with any of these options. All of these programs are free or offer free-trial and easy to use on any Windows PC.

Harris Andrea is an IT professional with more than 2 decades of experience in the technology field. He has worked in a diverse range of companies including software and systems integrators, computer networking firms etc. Currently he is employed in a large Internet Service Provider.

Harris is also the author of 2 technology books which are available at Amazon here. According to the developer it reads the fans speed as well. I spent several hours to find a soft that can do this — it appears to be the 1 rated CoreTemp, and no other soft can do this.

It would be nice if this review would include information about logging capabilities of these tools. Hey Alex, thanks for stopping by and for your comment. Indeed you have a valid point here about logging capabilities. Thanks for the suggestion. Being an antique myself, I run an appropriate AMD A from the mists of time well, actually. At times it was running up to 98 deg.

C deg. F , when max. Used Speccy or HWM to check — identical readings. Fingers crossed, but seems to have done the trick and no noticeable slowness in response doing things like spreadsheets, playing or steaming videos i.

This may be a tip to add to your list of things to do to reduce CPU Temperatures. Thanks for the Top 10 list — very useful info. Cheers — Jerry. Hi Jerry. Thanks so much for your feedback. Regarding taking off the side of the tower, I have also tried something similar but actually it made things worse. Computer cases are designed in such a way as to distribute air flow efficiently within the case, so by removing the side it actually makes things worse.

Thanks for the info. Your email address will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. I may earn a small commission if you buy through the links in this website without any extra cost to you. My Recommendations however are not biased in any way. Falk, thanks for your comment. You can also choose not to install the application, but rather download a zip file. In this form, HWMonitor becomes a portable app, which you can carry around on a USB stick and use when required without installation.

Meant for businesses with a large number of computers, it can be used to monitor multiple PCs over a network. As an advanced tool, its accuracy is better than most freeware apps, even if it appears a bit daunting to use. If all you want is to measure the CPU temperature of a single computer, there are other simpler tools out there.

Monitoring the CPU temperature is not only important but rather easy to do. You can use any of the apps mentioned in this list to get a look at how warm your processor is, allowing you to diagnose any problems. Core Temp is probably the simplest of these apps, and good enough for most scenarios.

In case you are looking for more accuracy, you might want to try an advanced tool like HWMonitor. For Intel users, Real Temp is also a great alternative. You can keep most of these CPU temperature tracking tools on your system tray , allowing you to keep an eye on the temperature while doing other tasks.

Levin Roy is a software engineer who loves writing about technology. Whether it is Windows tips-and-tricks or in-depth guides about application development, Levin uses his practical experience and technical skills to create articles that can help solve tricky problems. Read Levin’s Full Bio. Your email address will not be published. We will never spam you, unsubscribe at any time. Table of Contents. Subscribe on YouTube! AIDA64 Extreme has a ton of functionality, including hardware monitoring, benchmarking tools, stress testing capabilities, diagnostics, and more.

CPU Thermometer is another lightweight CPU temperature and load monitor that comes with a very straightforward user design. HWiNFO is another robust monitoring program that will give you a ton of information about the components inside of your computer.

The user interface is packed with a ton of information and it might be overwhelming for novice users. There are a ton of different CPU temperature monitor tools out there that can help you keep track of how your system is running. Unless someone has fixed it recently, avoid it. Be warned about Speccy. And switching it to display as F only makes it worse.

So leave Speccy at showing C, but read it as F. Oh, and after running Speccy, Open Hardware Monitor showed a new entry at So Speccy must be doing something that messes with other monitors. Great list!

Open Hardware Monitor – Core temp, fan speed and voltages in a free software gadget

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