What could be wrong with my processor?

[KTopc]

I recently bought a new laptop and i am noticing some very high temperatures of the CPU during gaming/startup/regular use. The high temperatures are very brief but i am afraid this will wear and destroy the processor over time. It reaches up to 100 C degrees sometimes, usually around 80-90 C after startup. 90-100 C degrees during gaming. Sometimes during gaming and regular use temps are fine, 50-70s, but sometimes they go as high as 90-100 C. Should i take this laptop back to the store? Is it a defect?

Lenovo Flex 15IML

CPU: i7-10510U

I have attached images to show.

These are temps right after windows starting up (look at Max Temps):

These are temperatures after 2 minutes of gameplay (look at Max temps):

I've had a few laptops before and they never had CPU temps like these.

I have also attached a test report i did with the Intel CPU diagnostics tool i download from this website.

[AlHill]

You need to contact Lenovo for support of your laptop.

Doc

[n_scott_pearson]

Seeing temperatures as high as 90c is fine. But, your laptop's blowers should be running at full speed by now. If they are not, the solution is damaged, installed incorrectly or configured incorrectly. Yes, definitely time to talk to Lenovo about a replacement.

...S

[KTopc]

Yes the fans are working all the time, sometimes they go higher in speed when CPU load increases, other times they slow down when the laptop is idling.

*So to update this matter, its not always that the CPU is at those high temps, i played a game this morning for 40 minutes, 95% of the time the temps were normal, 50-60 C, but strangely at startup of the game and at other random times, the temperatures spike up to 90-100 C for short periods of times. I am wondering if this is a really bad thing or is it designed like this?

I would really appreciate someone from Intel to look this up for me, based on the CPU model, and how its designed to work.

Its on a 2-in-1 laptop, so its not very roomy in there for good venting, i know its not going to be totally cool at all times, but 90-100 C seems a bit high.

Also if this keeps happening to a laptop, over years, would this damage the CPU?

At what temperatures does an Intel i7 CPU like this get damaged?

[n_scott_pearson]

It is difficult to answer these questions. These days, processors can heat up 30c in just a few milliseconds and drop almost as quickly. Remember that spikes are not the worrisome thing; it is high temperatures being sustained for significant periods of time that are the problem. I said more about this in my latest post in this thread.

...S

[KTopc]

Thank you for answering.

[KTopc · Accepted solution]

WOW what a great day indeed, i figured it out. It was the power setting in the battery options. I had it set to Best Performance, if anyone that is having this same issue with a brand new laptop, please DO NOT EVER turn your power setting to best performance in the battery settings, IT WILL MAKE YOUR PROCESSOR WORK AT MAX FREQUENCY ALL THE TIME, and will hit the max on the temps very often. Turn it down to balanced or better battery life, You will still have the same performance in games , i noticed no difference with performance in games when it was switched to balanced, or better battery life, there was a slight lag on best battery life mode though. Best Performance is definitely a no-no, with a laptop at least. Its up to the GPU for games not the CPU and your CPU wont overheat like this.

Also when you have it set to Best Performance, the power options you set in the advanced settings will not even come to effect (e.g. max CPU %), they are only in effect when you set it to a lower power mode.

Now during gaming it doesn't even go higher than 65 C (CPU), which is the norm for laptops.

 WOOHOOO!

[AlHill]

Glad you have it working.

Doc