Has it ever happened to you that your computer just shut down suddenly and without warning? This is a clear symptom of overheating in the equipment. Modern computers are programmed to turn off automatically, when the temperature of its components reaches a critical threshold, thus avoiding irreparable damage. In this article we explain in a very simple way, how you can tell if your PC is getting too hot .
Why does my computer get hot?
All computers include a multitude of components inside that generate heat while they are running. This is especially noticeable in the most powerful systems, so it is easy to get overheated if you don't take the care you should. We recently published a post with 5 tips to lower the temperature of your PC in summer.
Fortunately, the manufacturers of all these components include technologies so that the computer shuts down in case of overheating , thus greatly reducing the chances of irreparable heat damage.
What components get hotter?
There are several components of a computer that consume energy and therefore generate heat, then we will see the most important.
- Processor (CPU): The processor is the brain of the computer. This small piece is in charge of generating most of the calculations necessary for a PC to function properly. Most of today's processors consume between 35 and 120 watts.
- Chipset of the motherboard: Normally chipset motherboards have a very low energy consumption, but more advanced models of the market this consumption may rise slightly. The motherboard chipset can overheat if the ventilation of our PC is not adequate
- Graphics card (GPU): The graphics card is the component that consumes the most energy in high-end computers, and can reach consumption peaks of 300 or even 400 watts. This high power consumption causes a lot of heat to be generated, making it the component that tends to overheat the most.
- Power supply : The power supply is in charge of supplying power to the rest of the computer components. His job is to convert the alternating current from our home's electrical network into direct current.
- Hard Drives : Mechanical hard drives are another component that generates heat within a computer. They don't really generate much heat, but it is a fairly sensitive component, which does not tolerate high temperatures, so we have to be careful and monitor them periodically. It is generally accepted that hard drives should be kept below 60ºC.
How can I know the temperature of my PC?
There are many programs that allow us to know the temperature at which a computer is operating. In this case we are going to use Open Hardware Monitor. It is a free code program that informs us of the temperature in which most of the components of our PC are working. The power supply is the only component and that we will not be able to monitor.
We can download Open Hardware Monitor for free from the project's official website. Once downloaded, we just have to unzip the files, and open the executable that we will see inside. It does not need installation, so it is a very comfortable program to use.
The Open Hardware Monitor interface shows the temperature that all the sensors of the components of our PC are detecting . In general, it is recommended that the graphics card and the processor do not work continuously at temperatures above 80ºC, although these components can tolerate peaks of up to 100ºC from time to time. As for hard drives, they should be kept below 50ºC, although it is possible that they reach this temperature at times of maximum work.
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