Our ambient temp has risen lately so I purchased an inferred gun type thermometer to keep an eye on my laptop temps .... I'm getting around 45.5 as a high point on the keyboard when gaming .... most readings are 36 to 38 normal use ...
Not being sure if this is the best way to check the temp .... I searched online for an app and found one called Psensor below are the readings I got ... the first one is normal use and the 2nd one is gaming on medium not ultra .... readings were taken at around I think 2:00 PM ..... problem is I have to shut down my gaming to read the temp info ....
I am running an Asus ROG gaming laptop which on the web says temp up to 85 C are acceptable ????? .....
Is there a better free app to show CPU and GPU temps maybe something that will record and hold temp spikes ???? ....
Generally laptops do run hot, so I'm not too surprised in seeing temps that high honestly. That being said, if you've noticed it being higher than it used to be or just in general the fans working much harder than they used to, I would look at something physical, such as the thermal paste.
If you're on an older machine, ESPECIALLY laptops, I would start there. I think they recommend replacing the CPU paste every 3-5 years (and that's on desktop, where huge temp changes are a bit less compared to laptops).
" To monitor CPU and GPU temperature spikes on a Linux laptop, the most effective methods involve using command-line tools like lm-sensors combined with watch for real-time terminal updates, or graphical applications like psensor for visual analysis.
Command-Line Monitoring For immediate, lightweight monitoring in the terminal, install lm-sensors (via sudo apt install lm-sensors on Ubuntu/Debian or sudo pacman -S lm_sensors on Arch) and run sensors-detect to configure hardware detection. To observe temperature spikes dynamically, use the watch command to refresh readings every few seconds:
watch -n 2 sensors
This displays real-time data for CPU cores, fan speeds, and critical thresholds (e.g., crit = +100.0°C ), allowing you to identify sudden temperature increases under load. For NVIDIA GPUs specifically, the nvidia-smi utility provides detailed GPU temperature, usage, and power consumption data when paired with watch :
watch -n 2 nvidia-smi
Graphical Monitoring and Gaming Overlays For a user-friendly interface that plots temperature over time, psensor is a popular graphical tool that depends on lm-sensors and visualizes CPU, GPU, and HDD temperatures in real-time graphs.
Install it via sudo apt install psensor (Ubuntu/Debian) or sudo pacman -S psensor (Arch).
Launch psensor to select specific sensors and monitor trends, which helps distinguish between transient spikes and sustained overheating.
For gamers or users requiring an on-screen display, MangoHud can be configured to show CPU and GPU temperatures directly within the game window using environment variables like gpu_temp and cpu_temp . Additionally, glances offers a comprehensive curses-based dashboard displaying system metrics, including sensors, in a single screen.
Once that is done, you just need a Conky Script to run. I can help you build one, find one, whatever. I can give you one of mine.
BUT... We will need to ID your hardware for HWMON to read your actual temps, so that is One Final step.
If the temperature spikes for no reason (like running simple stuff like Skyrim), then it could be that Intel Turboboost is on (and that is some nonsense that I don't think is worth having enabled on laptops).
I'll leave it to you whether you want it, but it's the difference between 100C and high fan activity and 60C with barely any fan activity.
To disable it, one way I use is to create the file: /etc/rc.local
Make sure the file is owned by 'root' and in the 'root' group. (chown command)
Make sure the file has permissions 700 (rwx------). (chmod command)
Add the lines: #!/bin/sh echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo
Save the file.
Reboot.
I'm not on a proper keyboard atm, so let me know if you need help with the chown or chmod commands. (Just had the other stuff copied from my Linux setup notes)
Okay, I would think it is fine. It might not be optimal with high Temperatures but Gaming can increase it depending on the Game and the needed Ressources. When the Temps are not as high in normal Desktop Usage it should be okay.
Thank you sir for the kind offer I just discovered that Psensor has an icon in my taskbar that allows me to click on it to view the machine temps ( see photo below ) .... it doesn't work while in-game though as I don't have access to my task bar while playing .... mounting the temperature readings on my game screen while playing would just get in the way .....
It would be nice to find something that would lock the highest temp recording for viewing so I could exit the game to just see the high temps .... kinda like a tachometer does with the needle reset hand .... that way I could reset all the values with the touch of a button .... if that makes sense ....
That's weird because that doesn't work it will take me back to the Steam website and I have to restart the game ..... the only time I can safely exit and enter the game again is when I take a screenshot .... I can just click on the game icon in my task bar and it will return me back to the game ....
I wonder if alt+tab could be assigned to something else and cause it to do something different than release the mouse capture ????? ....
Yes, alt+tab can navigate the cursor to the steam window (I guess if using one monitor), but that won't shut the game down. In the Steam Window, does it still show as running and the Play button is marked Stop?
Sorry I didn't get back sooner but I was having an issue with my Brave browser after an update had to do with my search engine and Proton VPN ..... tried every thing till I noticed the update ....
Yesterday I had another Brave update and the problem was solved .... so today I will get back to the problem with alt+tab issue on Steam ..... I'll let you know ....
Psensor actually works better then you think, as the MAX category, will show the highest temp spikes your computer is receiving, weather your in game or not.
I have a performance gaming notebook, an MSI GE-76 Raider, and it can easily hit 80C or more, when over clocking & pushing 4K resolution, with MAX graphics settings, in games like, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. For this reason, is why I try to limit overclocking to bellow MAX potential, and I run an AFMAT notebook cooler pad, which uses twin blower-fans, to help keep the notebook cool.
If you had a thermal paste issue, your CPU temps would be through the roof just idling! As you see here, my CPU temps are idling at 34C, which is actually lower then modern top end gear. Most computers will trip, if the CPU temp hits 100C to 110C.
Ideally when pushing heavy gaming, its best to not see MAX temps get above 85-90C, for computer longevity. Use a notebook cooling pad! I'm also running a -50mv CPU undervolt as well. (<<<--- Only for advanced users with unlocked advanced BIOS experience)
Here is what I found out .... when using alt/tab while playing my game it switches me back to the Steam main page but doesn't show my taskbar so I can use the Psensor on it .... in the past I just chose to restart the game from Steams main page .... but I discovered if I hit the alt/tab again it brought me back to the same place in the game I left from ....
So it looks like I need to find a way to show the taskbar when I hit alt/tab ..... any suggestions ???? ....
