61C good temp for Pentium M?

[evanwilson6]

My Pentium M notebook appears to be a little hot. SpeedFan says 61C. Does anyone know whether this is a good temp? (It changes between about 58-62.)

 

[wolfram]

For a Pentium M that's very high. I recommendation (in a desktop PC) would be to open it, remove the CPU heatsink, clean old thermal paste, and apply new one.

But for a laptop, it's hard to do that.

 

[evanwilson6]

well then...

Is there any way I read it wrong?
-Local Temp - 61C
-Remote Temp - 127C
-HD0 - 48C
-Temp1 - 51C

Which is it?

And redoing the thermal gel isn't bad. I can do that. This is an Alienware after all, so the access is very easy. But just to make sure could someone tell me which to read for the CPU?

Thanks by the way!

 

[wolfram]

I'm not very sure. Is between the 61C and the "Temp 1" 51C.
A pentium M is a CPU that runs very very cool, some sites like Tom's hardware had it running at no more than 32C with a very small heatsink and fan.

Check that the CPU's fan hasn't stopped, and if you can, only if you can and have no warranty or don't care about it, open the laptop, clean it using a can of compressed air, and all the things I said before.

Good luck!

 

[KingCody]

you should get a "second opinion" before you start worrying about it. reason being that software based temp monitors are not accurate

get another temp monitor program and see what it says

does the laptop's CPU heatsink feel physically hot or just warm?

 

[evanwilson6]

One more...

Would the fact that it's running at halfspeed do anything? I saw something about that moving the temp up. (to save power it does that)

 

[Rick]

The Pentium M will scale down speed ('throttling') to do one of two things... Conserve power or to prevent overheating. 60C is the typical threshold for thottling. In your case, I'm betting it is overheating.

Laptops do indeed run hot (even Pentium Ms), but I think you have a valid cause for concern. If you've had the laptop for several months or longer, there's a good chance it needs to be physically cleaned out.

You see, manufacturers think they can get away with using a tiny, aluminum heatsink and a cheesy fan on Pentium Ms because they generate less heat than your average CPU. Unfortunately, this makes them more prone to environmental issues such as dust and high ambient temperatures because the cooling system is so poor.

If you feel comfortable taking apart your laptop, I would suggest removing the CPU / heatsink assembly and giving it a good cleaning. (This can actually be a pretty simple process with a lot of newer laptops).

If you're not so technically inclined, you may be able to use something like pressurized air to blast out the dust through the cooling vents on the side/bottom of the notebook. It won't work as well, but it will probably work well enough to lower your temperatures considerably. You might want to make sure it is off, just avoid any complications.

Just so you know, I've taken apart lots of laptops for this reason and they've always been satisfied afterward. This includes my own Pentium M laptop. I lowered my temperatures by 15*C the last time I cleaned it out.