Question laptop temps 47-58c

[Spreadler]

Hello everyone,

I have an old laptop (dell vostro a860) and it runs at 47-58c no matter if idle or under load. At 58c fan starts blowing and brings the temperature down to 47c when it stops.
When watching a video for instance, cpu is around 40% load and it goes from 47c to 58c in around 1min. With fan running temp drops from 58c to 47c in around 2min. Witch means the fan is heavily used.
(When idle, it takes longer to reach 58c and less to get back to 47c of course.)

How normal is this behaviour? Would applying thermal paste reduce temps enough to stop stressing the fan so much?

Thank you!

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

if it's out of warranty you can open it up and attempt cleaning and while you're there you could also redo the thermal paste.
may also want to get a cooling pad to rest it on while using.

https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-thermal-paste

 

[Spreadler]

Thank you for your answer!
Yes it is out of warranty. It is more than 10 years old. I have put linux on it and it works like a charm. Web browsers are quite slow but the rest is quick.
It is just that it gets hot quickly. And i've read that thermal paste should be reapplied once in a couple of years. I haven't replaced it at all and i thought it might help. It is good that the fan keeps the temp in control (right?), but due to the fact it gets hot so often without much load, i thought reapplying thermal paste would make a difference and get the stress of the fan diminished.
Hard drive is also getting very hot (like 51+ C) under load and it doesn't get lower if hdd doesn't spin down. I think it is because of the bearings. But after using TLP with battery profile the temp stays at around 45-46C. However, the CPU temp doesn't seem to be affected by TLP.
Opening it will be a pain, as both hdd and cpu are deep inside and i have to completely disassemble it. But i have done it before. And i also got some screws left after reassembling it, which i think it's cool.

 

[Spreadler]

I have not yet replaced the thermal paste. However, like i said, i use TLP with default settings, on battery profile always enabled. With this, the hdd temp rarely exceeds 50C. Most of the time it stays at around 46C which i think it is fine.

Beside this, i have modified some settings in bios, in the performance section i have:

• kept the multi core support enabled,
• disabled the dynamic acceleration (which seems to be the equivalent of the turbo boost)
• enabled the speed step to reduce the power when low usage
• set hdd acoustic mode to quiet

With all these settings and tlp (battery profile) i get hdd to around 46C and cpu most of the time stays at around 50C. This time the fan works almost all the time (at a lower speed) and only increased speed when temps get higher due to cpu load increase.

I am not sure however what's the better scenario:

1. the fan is completely stopped (when temp reaches 47C) and only starts running (when temps get to 58C) no matter if the laptop is idle or not;
2. the fan runs most of the time at a little lower speed keeping the temp at around 50-52C under light/medium load, and increasing speed only on heavy load when temp reaches 58C. When idle, the cpu can stay below 50C and the fan will be stopped all the time.

I tend to think the second one is better and that i should keep these new settings. What do you think?

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I tend to think the second one is better and that i should keep these new settings. What do you think?

may also want to get a cooling pad to rest it on while using.