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I have a few months old Samsung Series 7 laptop with an i5 CPU (T-junction 100°C). It has a silent mode feature, which turns the fan off (or greatly limits its speed). I'm wondering if it is safe to run it in silent mode for extended periods? Normally it is not loud at all, but it becomes nearly dead quite when in silent mode.

With a light load (ca. 10%) it runs at just under 58-60°C (CPU package measured with Open Hardware Monitor). If I put it into silent mode it'll run a few degrees warmer.

I reckon there are plenty of safeguards to prevent any immediate damage, but would a few degrees affect the CPU and other components over their entire lifespan?

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It's safe. There are built in protections for overheating. If your system is overheating, the component will generally shut down to prevent damage. It generally manifests as the computer freezing up.

The biggest concern should be your battery. If you're using lots of CPU and generating a lot of heat near the battery with the battery fully charged, it can decrease the battery life. It's not something you should worry about though unless your laptop is indeed generating a lot of heat. Some people take out the battery or don't let it reach full charge while gaming, etc.

If you think your laptop is generating too much heat, it might be worth it to take off the case and use a can of air to blow out accumulated dust.

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  • No, I'm not worried that it is overheating and for the most part it is jacked up on laptop stand that offers perfect air circulation.
    – Stoney
    Nov 23, 2012 at 18:10
  • I knew it was best to keep batteries less than fully charged although I had no idea that heat had any particular effect. The battery is not easily removable on this laptop. However, the BIOS has an option to only charge the battery up to 80% which I have not bothered to use. Maybe I should, since my laptop is plugged in 99% of the time.
    – Stoney
    Nov 23, 2012 at 18:13
  • I personally think people worry about it more than is necessary, but I'm not an authority or anything. :-) Nov 23, 2012 at 23:54

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