Computer overheating is something which can be detrimental to your computer and although most new computers have devices (both hardware and software) to protect this from happening, it is still a common occurrence. Mainly due to higher powered video cards for intense gaming, or online movie watching, faster pcdesigner speeds in general and even something called over-clocking. There are many signs to watch for to see if your CPU temperature is running too high, some of them you might not even realize that this would be the cause.
Things to watch for are as follows:
* Computer restarts unexpectedly.
* In the middle of a game and it seems each frame is moving slower and slower than the one before.
* Your computer crashes much too often.
* Computer locks up suddenly.
* Things start running very slow, which were fast prior.
* You should listen for the sounds the fans make. Do they sound like they are constantly running, or do they sound sporadic, loud at times and then sound as if they are not working.
Generally the CPU temp will start to climb as the computer is continually being utilized. The heat will begin to build up and then eventually cause overheating. If you live in a warm climate and do not have adequate cooling in your work area, this could also accelerate the heat production within the computer.
As you can imagine, high CPU temps which cause overheating, can in turn cause hardware failure, and even worse, a fried motherboard, although, most computers these days have built-in safeguards (such as system restart).
Most motherboards now have built into the BIOS setup a way to monitor CPU temperature. During your computer startup, you would want to enter the BIOS and go to PC health or Power. You should be able to see what the temps are for both the CPU and the system. If you do not want to have to do this each time to check, you can also install software within your Windows system that will monitor CPU temperature at all times. You must ensure however that your motherboard allows this.
Normal CPU temps for processors made by Intel are typical from Idle: 40 to 55 Load: 55 to 85, they do tend to run higher and hotter than AMD which is from Idle: 30 to 45 Load: 50 to 70.
If your CPU temperatures seem to be running very hot, you may want to take a few measures to try to alleviate this. A simple measure is to open one side of your tower to let air flow in (but be warned lots of dust can and will get in). Another is to add or replace the heat sink on the processor with a better one. You should also do regular dusting out (with compressed air or foot pump) the fans both inside the computer and the power supply. Lastly, try to keep your computer in a cool working area.
