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My laptop CPU is "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6500 @ 2.10GHz". I use Ubuntu 10.10 and I get the CPU temperate via 'sensors' program.

During normal operation it reports the CPU temperate ~50 centigrade. But if I run some long running CPU intensive program the CPU temperature shoots to 80 centigrade. And due to fear of burning CPU I do not run the program completely.

There is a possible duplicate: Another similar question

And here is specs page from Intel: T6500

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3 Answers

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As you can see on the specs page you linked yourself, the Tjunction is specified as 105°C. That means unless your CPU runs at this temperature you are save, and even then the CPU is going to shut itself off if it gets too hot.

Nothing to fear here. Typically in notebooks, the CPUs get rather hot under load which is desired as cooling them down takes much energy and produces much noise, so notebook vendor dent to fully use the thermal budget.

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+1 for not being blind like me and finding the TJunction on the chip, haha. – Shinrai Mar 9 '11 at 23:28
I am not much of electronics guy, so I was confused what Tjunction temperature actually means. Follow-up query is, if I can run my CPU at 90°C for like an hour? – Xolve Mar 11 '11 at 16:17
I am planning to use 'pause' within my scripts to let CPU cool down time to time. – Xolve Mar 11 '11 at 16:18
You can run your CPU at full throttle. My CPUs got up to ~80-90°C under full load, and I ran them for weeks straight at full throttle. So it's just a question of good system design to keep your system inside the tolerable temperatures. There is no need to keep the CPUs at 30°C. That just costs power and noise. – Holger Just Mar 12 '11 at 0:32
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There are exact specifications for this, but unfortunately I don't know anywhere to get them for these chips...I'm sure they are someplace in the labyrinth that is Intel's website and hopefully someone else can provide them (and they'll get a big fat +1 from me.)

That said, this varies from chip to chip, but 80°C isn't outrageous under load on a chip like that. I'd try to avoid it 24/7 but I think you're okay for brief spurts (I routinely burn-in chips at that temp); any higher is probably cause for concern though.

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It may sound a little strange but, as far as my experience with CPU and temperature, get a good vacuum cleaner and get all the dust out of the laptop. Moreover, if you run applications that require a lot of CPU work, get an "undercooler".

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-1. The advice is sound except for the recommendation of a vacuum cleaner - depending on your vacuum, it may generate a lot of static and damage components! (Feel free to edit and turn that -1 into a +1 though. ;3) – Shinrai Mar 9 '11 at 23:27
Unless you've got some crappy crap (which you should return immediately), an "undercooler" helps you nothing. It just makes noise and might looks fancy, but it doesn't cool your laptop. That's what the laptop and it's inbuilt thermal management have to do. If it can't do that, well crap. – Holger Just Mar 9 '11 at 23:32
this is actually not true. it does help you cool you're laptop because of the air flow that his inbuilt thermal management gets from below. – Nikita Kosych Mar 10 '11 at 5:12
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