0

How reliable is the program lm-sensors in Linux? When I run watch sensors, I see large skips of temperature, as high as 10 degrees Celsius within the refresh interval of 2 seconds. The two readings below show this, with two screenshots taken 2 seconds apart, with Core 1 jumping 8 degrees down between those.

Reading 1:

Every 2.0s: sensors                                         Thu Nov 19 14:02:41 2020

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +66.0°C  

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +59.0°C  

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +67.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +61.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +67.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +60.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +59.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

pch_skylake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +55.5°C 

Reading 2, taken 2 seconds later:

Every 2.0s: sensors                                         Thu Nov 19 14:02:43 2020

iwlwifi_1-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +65.0°C  

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +61.0°C  

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +59.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +59.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +59.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +58.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +57.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

pch_skylake-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +55.5°C 
7
  • 2
    Please do not post text as images. It's not searchable, the visually impaired may be unable to read it and it may not be clear on some hardware/software combinations.
    – gronostaj
    Nov 19, 2020 at 14:35
  • 1
    @gronostaj you are right, there was no necessity for images in this case. I transcribed their contents into text and edited the question. Thank you very much. Nov 19, 2020 at 14:54
  • 1
    This is probably a better question for Unix & Linux Nov 19, 2020 at 22:45
  • 1
    @EvanCarroll you are right, I will delete this and open one over there Nov 20, 2020 at 11:34
  • Rather than reposting questions it would have been better to have simply migrated this question there. As you have gotten an answer here it is unfair to them to simply delete it. Now in order to sort it out it would have to be migrated there and then merged by a moderator into your existing duplicate.
    – Mokubai
    Nov 20, 2020 at 12:55

1 Answer 1

1

The program only displays what the hardware reports, it's perfectly reliable.

Rapid changes in CPU temperature are to be expected with modern CPUs. They're aggressively adjusting their clock speeds to achieve top performance within design constraints. For example if only one core is under high load, the CPU will boost that core's clock knowing that its temperature budget it higher due to other cores' low activity.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .