Check your CPU temperature:

How do you check your CPU temperature? Well, it's not hard to figure out. Checking your PC's CPU temperature is similar to checking the oil in your car: you don't need to do it every day, but you should check your temperatures every few months to make sure your system is running at its full potential or to diagnose your system if you notice drastic performance slowdowns. Fortunately, checking your CPU temperature is easy and doesn't require opening up your PC and sticking a thermometer inside. Every CPU has built-in digital temperature sensors, so you only need a tool to measure the temperature of your PC. software to read measurements on Windows 11 or other operating systems.

There are several excellent tools for this, here are some for download:

• NZXT's CAM
• Core Temp
• AIDA64
• HWiINFO
• HWMonitor

The easiest way to check your CPU temperature is to download a simple utility, such as Core Temp or NZXT's CAM, to view your CPU temperatures. Ultimately, keeping your CPU temperature under control improves performance and reliability. This is especially true if you regularly stress your system with heavy loads, as you would with the best gaming CPUs, or if you're an enthusiast who strives for the best performance in CPU benchmarks.

Next, we will explain how to check the temperature of your CPU, we will define the range sure temperatures for a CPU and we will describe what to do if your CPU temperatures are too high.

As Check your CPU temperature in Windows 10 and 11

Checking your CPU temperature is as easy as installing and using a tool. software and then read the result. There are several CPU temperature monitoring software to choose from, with the best tools to check CPU temperature being any of the following (click to download):

However, there are other tools you can use to monitor CPU temperature. If you are overclocking your CPU and want more detailed measurements, Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) and AMD Ryzen Master They are designed by chip manufacturers and also offer extensive tuning options.

These are just a few examples, but we'll show you how NZXT's CAM and Core Temp work because our testing found these two to be the easiest to install and use. You can download CAM here.

While the CAM CPU Temperature Monitor is designed for use with NZXT products, it works well as a casual monitoring tool on Windows 11, even if you don't have any hardware NZXT. You can use the software in Guest Mode to avoid creating a user account, and you can also Disable the program from starting automatically with Windows if you don't plan to use it frequently.

Once installed, CAM offers a user-friendly interface. The first block (PC Monitoring) lists the CPU status, which displays load, temperature, clock speed, and cooler fan speed. You can click on this block to access more details. As you can see, the current CPU temperature of this system is 36 degrees Celsius (C), which is a healthy temperature for your CPU when it is idle.

CAM also has an overlay, which automatically turns on when you enter a game while CAM is running. This overlay can display the status of your CPU and show temperature measurements while you play.

You can also use Core Temp tool, one of the best CPU temperature tools for Windows 11, to monitor temperatures (download here). This is a simpler tool with a more basic interface. Just make sure to uncheck the freeware option during installation.

Core Temp provides temperature measurements for each core in your CPU. The left side of the measurements shows the real-time temperature of each CPU core, and you can also see the measurements in the taskbar. But we're most interested in the Min and Max columns, which show the absolute minimum and absolute maximum temperature recorded while the program is running. For example, the CPU in the image above has a minimum temperature of 32°C and a maximum of 51°C, both normal temperatures.

If you want to check your PC's CPU temperature during normal use, you can leave Core Temp running while performing common tasks.

However, if you want to measure the maximum possible temperature, you can check this by running a Prime95 stress test for about 30 minutes (download here). Just keep in mind that this program puts an extremely heavy load on your PC, so you might encounter a screen blue screen of death (BSOD).

The best way to check your CPU temperature while gaming is to play for an hour or more and then check your program to see the maximum recorded CPU temperature. You should be concerned if this figure is equal to or greater than 95°C. Anything between 80°C and 95°C (or more) leaves room for improvement.

As Check your CPU temperature in BIOS

You can check your CPU temperature in your system's BIOS or UEFI, but keep in mind that this will only show your CPU temperature when your system is idle. That means you'll see much higher temperatures when you boot into Windows 11 or other operating systems and the chip is under load. Not all motherboards include the CPU temperature in the BIOS, but almost all DIY or enthusiast motherboards do.

It's fairly simple to enter the BIOS to check your CPU temperature. On most platforms, simply reboot the system and click delete or F2 repeatedly as it reboots. Once you're in the BIOS, you'll see the temperature listed in the CPU temperature section. Hardware Monitor, which may also be called PC Health Status or Status, among other similar names. You should also check from Windows 11 to get a better idea of CPU temperatures when using your PC (see below).

That is it a safe cpu temperature?

When your CPU is idle but within the operating system (on desktop), an ideal temperature is anything below or around 50°C. Under higher loads, such as when gaming, rendering a video, or other intensive tasks, your CPU draws more power and therefore runs at a higher temperature. This 'load temperature' is more important than idle temperatures (assuming idle temperatures are okay), so you'll want to periodically check your CPU's temperature under load to make sure it's adequately cooled.

Under load, you want your CPU to stay below 80°C, although some CPUs can run cooler in computers laptops for gaming or small form factor (SFF) computers.

Also, certain newer chips are designed to run at much higher temperatures, so it's important to check your processor's specifications. For example, processors Ryzen AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series are rated to run at up to 95°C with a standard air cooler, while the Ryzen 7000 series is also rated to run at 95°C even with a water cooler (notably, some models, such as the Ryzen 9 7950X3D chips, have a lower threshold of 89°C (be sure to check).

Meanwhile, the 12th Gen Intel Core i9 Alder Lake Processors, 13th Gen Raptor Lake and 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh can operate up to 100°C during normal operation. These temperatures are within specifications and expected for these specific processors.

As such, while the 80°C threshold serves as a good general indicator, it is important to ensure that your processor do not exceed your 'TJ max' (Maximum Junction Temperature). This is the safe limit for any given processor. This may also be listed as the Union T or the Maximum operating temperature.

The TJ Max varies depending on the chip, but most monitoring software lists the value or you can check the chip specifications on the manufacturer's page.

For older chips, you have some leeway to go above 80°C, but anything above 95°C is usually critical. At this point, some CPUs will start to throttle, meaning the chip will reduce its clock speed and slow down to ensure it doesn't overheat, and your PC may shut down.

More advanced users who want maximum confidence that their CPU can handle aggressive workloads should test their CPU to 100 % using a program like Prime95 either AIDA64. When running a stress test, keep a close eye on CPU temperatures and back off once they reach too high a level (above 95°C). We consider an ideal stress test to last one hour, though your maximum temperature will likely stabilize after 10-15 minutes. If you're looking for specific advice on temperatures and overclocking, check out our How to Overclock a CPU guide.

As Fix High CPU Temperatures

If your CPU temperature exceeds 80°C under load, you should check your system to ensure that CPU cooling is adequate. Here is a checklist of things to look for:

• Is your PC clean and free of dust (including the radiator and intake fans/filters)?
• Are all of your PC's fans spinning under load?
• When was the last time you applied new thermal paste between the CPU and the CPU cooler? If it's been more than three years, consider reapplying the thermal paste.
• Does your model's CPU cooler specify a higher cooling capacity than your CPU's rated TDP?

For SFF PCs and laptops, there may be minimal cooling as the device was never designed to be used under high loads for extended periods of time. For example, most laptops come with very compact cooling solutions that work well for short-term performance boosts, but need to be throttled down during extended gaming sessions to keep below the shutdown threshold. The computers Gaming laptops are often bulky because they are equipped with extensive cooling systems.

However, if you're running a full-size gaming PC and feel that its cooling should be adequate, you may want to reapply thermal paste to your CPU. The performance of most thermal pastes seriously degrades after about three years. Applying new paste (here's a list of the best thermal pastes) and cleaning the system from dust can deliver much better cooling power and significantly improved performance. This applies to both pre-built and custom PCs.

Also, as part of any PC tune-up, you'll want to make sure your cooler is adequate. Many of the stock CPU coolers that come bundled with the CPU or installed in pre-built systems are not adequate to give you the full performance of the chip. This often applies to Intel CPU coolers on Core i5 and higher processors. You'll want to follow the stress test steps outlined above to check CPU temperatures under load in Windows 10 or Windows 11 to ensure the CPU doesn't overwhelm the cooler when under heavy load.