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I have a Toshiba Satellite P755-S5215 laptop, from 2012. It's got a 2.2 GHz Intel Mobile i7-2670QM CPU, with a stock board and integrated graphics.

It's a good workhorse, but sometimes it undergoes an emergency poweroff because CPU temperatures exceed what my laptop's physical thermometer considers a critical level of 100° C. This is usually when I'm playing a resource-intensive game and haven't throttled CPU throughput, or when systemd wants to be annoying.

On the other hand, if I'm playing a resource-intensive game and I remembered to throttle the CPU's governors, the temperature sits around 87° C, which is a degree above what the thermometer considers high. The computer can run like this, but I wonder what the board and parts are actually capable of.

Most of the snippets of data I've been able to find say 100° C is typical, but my guess is that's just a ballpark for manufacturers and OEMs to cover their hindsides against a lawsuit.

Could maintaining a CPU temperature tolerably below the critical level (but still hot enough to, for example, give any human severe burns) have permanent, destructive effects on my computer's components?


I use lm_sensors to read CPU temps.

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    If your CPU is reaching 100° C then you have serious problems. You should clean your laptop out and kill the dust bunnies.
    – Ramhound
    Feb 13, 2016 at 4:20
  • @Ramhound I've done that, but the issue persists. It's not something that worries me dearly, as it's not all that frequent
    – cat
    Feb 13, 2016 at 4:23
  • What model CPU? (cat /proc/cpuinfo)
    – davidgo
    Feb 13, 2016 at 4:34
  • Its not clear what your question is then. 100° C indicates a cooling problem, a CPU is design to be at load.
    – Ramhound
    Feb 13, 2016 at 4:49
  • Are you sure your lm-sensors readings are accurate? They match what your BIOS reports? At idle and under load? Mine will report CPU temps of -3C (that is minus) to +5C at idle, and under load quickly jump up to more "normal" 20, 30, 40+. And is your "thermometer" read of high really anything to be concerned about? That aside, I wouldn't really count on any component to last much beyond the warranty period.
    – Xen2050
    Feb 13, 2016 at 12:21

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The short answer is yes - the hotter you run the CPU the sooner it will fail - however this may not be meaningful in terms of useful life of the computer.

According to this link 100 degrees is the uppermost limit the CPU can handle, so there is almost certainly something wrong.

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  • It should be stated that. A CPU could run within its thermal limits 24/7 without a problem and without any side effects. The lifespan only gets reduced when the thermal limits are exceeded.
    – Ramhound
    Feb 13, 2016 at 5:40
  • It could be said the MTBF would then be higher the small likelyhood that it fails or larger liklyhood that a bit is incorrect , and a series of possibilities with techno names that are discussed about what breaks down. . Not that it "Will Fail" but the stats for that possibility are increased.
    – Psycogeek
    Feb 13, 2016 at 9:53

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