Question Laptop CPU hitting 96C

[TalSO]

My ThinkPad X220 i7 laptop started exhibiting signs of fatigue - when I'd load a few Chrome tabs at the same time, the CPU fan would kick in and things would start to get stuck. I installed TPFanControl to monitor the CPU temps - seemed that on those occasions it would go well above 90C, I tried replacing the thermal paste, but that didn't seem to actually do anything, so I ordered a new cooling unit. I installed it yesterday. As the reviews said - it is much quieter than the previous fan, but the CPU still gets really hot - if I'm not mistaken it got to 96 at some point this morning. Is this normal for a laptop CPU?
I do think there's a chance it doesn't stay as hot for as long as it did before, with the new fan, but I'm not completely sure about that.

 

[siaan312]

It's "normal" but far from ideal.
Lots of laptops with high end cpus throttle or hit high tempratures.

Best 3 things you can do are

1. Change the fan curve to a higher one, but that is more noisy.
2. try undervolting and underclocking if possible, but that is possibly with less performance

or 3. Put liquid metal instead of thermal paste. I wouldn't recommend it tho. (If you want to know about this, read more on the internet.)

 

[TalSO]

It's "normal" but far from ideal.
Lots of laptops with high end cpus throttle or hit high tempratures.

Best 3 things you can do are

1. Change the fan curve to a higher one, but that is more noisy.
2. try undervolting and underclocking if possible, but that is possibly with less performance

or 3. Put liquid metal instead of thermal paste. I wouldn't recommend it tho. (If you want to know about this, read more on the internet.)

So I guess I'll try (1) - I prefer a little more noise from the fan (especially with how quiet it is) to any loss of performance. What's the best way to do it? TPFanControl?

 

[siaan312]

So I guess I'll try (1) - I prefer a little more noise from the fan (especially with how quiet it is) to any loss of performance. What's the best way to do it? TPFanControl?

Not sure, but that would probably work.

 

[poorbugger]

How long have you had this laptop for? The temps reach that high just by opening chrome? It's not normal for cpu to reach that temps in desktop. Did you clean the vents using compressed air?

 

[TalSO]

The laptop is old, but generally - still functioning very well. The fan is new.
The temps aren't from just opening Chrome, but from loading about 10 tabs at the same time.

 

[poorbugger]

The laptop is old, but generally - still functioning very well. The fan is new.
The temps aren't from just opening Chrome, but from loading about 10 tabs at the same time.

Are the fans spinning? Can you hear them? It might be because the repasting went wrong.

 

[TalSO]

The fans are spinning, yes. The problem started before I repasted - that's why repasted it in the first place.
I also tried to redo it. Still failed.

I'm really not sure that I did the repaste correctly, but I did read online, and did what the tips suggested. Is there any way to know for sure if I applied the paste correctly?