Have you ever played some game on your laptop continuously for a few hours just to realize your laptop is so hot you cannot even touch it? If the answer is yes, welcome to the club because you are not the only one. These large temperatures on gaming laptops present a huge worry for some people, which is the exact reason why people want to know the ideal laptop temperature while gaming.
Here is the short answer:
The normal laptop temperature while gaming depends on the laptop, but the normal range is anywhere between 65-85°C. Anything beyond 90°C is typically considered too hot.
Dont worry. There is more. In this article, I will cover everything you need to know about laptop temperature while gaming, so I will answer the following questions:
- Why you should care about your laptop temperature
- What is the normal laptop GPU temp while gaming
- What is the normal laptop CPU temp while gaming
- Ideal gaming laptop idle temp
- How hot is too hot?
Let’s dive in.
Normal laptop temperature while gaming
Anything between 65–85 degrees celsius is considered normal before thermal throttling kicks in. In some cases, you might push it to 90 and still be good, but I wouldn’t recommend going over 90 for extended periods.
However, not much will happen in the short term if you push these temperatures (at most, you’ll get throttles and performance problems).
Most gaming laptops today are designed for these temperatures and thus have safeguards in place to prevent you from killing your GPU or other hardware. Safeguards or not, I wouldn’t recommend pushing your laptop past 85 often as it can cause long-term damage; shortening its lifespan by about a year or 2.
The average lifespan for gaming laptops is about 4–5 years, sometimes 6-7 if you take excellent care of it. That being said, if you’re pushing it past 85 degrees celsius regularly, don’t be surprised if it only lasts 3 years or even less.
Another thing to pay attention to is your average temperatures, not the 1% temps. I feel a lot of people get concerned when they check their laptop temp and see the 1% temp is 95 when the average is 83 or something. Temperatures fluctuate often, so pay attention to what your average temps are, not the 1%.
My friend’s laptop keeps things cool at 45–50 degrees in low-performance mode and 60–70 in high-performance mode for most games. In severe cases on high-performance mode, it’ll jump up to 80–90 degrees for those high-end games on maximum settings. The only game that causes his laptop to go above proper temperatures during gaming is Mount and Blade Bannerlord.
A laptop is a complex thermal machine. It has numerous temperatures distributed throughout. The ones of most interest are CPU and GPU.
This article would not be complete without some real-life data from various laptops, which is exactly why I decided to dig even more. Note that I will include some data from stress tests besides gaming. While the typical stress test cannot represent real-life use, it is still a good way to assess the laptop’s stability and its cooling system capabilities in the long run.
Normal laptop GPU temp while gaming
Thanks to Laptopmedia, we were able to pull some data on the temperatures of the popular gaming laptops.
Laptop GPU Temperature While Gaming
| Laptop | Core Temp After 2 min | Core Temp After 30 min | Core Temp Max Fan |
| HP Omen 16 (16-b0000) | 68°C 80W | 71°C 80W | – |
| HP Envy 15 (15-ep1000) | 87°C 75W | 74°C 48W | – |
| ASUS ZenBook Pro 15 OLED (UM535) | 66°C 50W | 68°C 50W | – |
| HP Pavilion Gaming 15 (15-dk2000) | 65°C 60W | 73°C 60W | – |
| MSI Sword 15 | 73°C 60W | 79°C 60W | 69°C 60W |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 | 74°C 40W | 75°C 44W | – |
| Dell G15 5511 | 71°C 88W | 72°C 89W | – |
| Dell G15 5515 | 76°C 80W | 77°C 80W | – |
| Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-57) | 70°C 66W | 72°C 65W | 69°C 66W |
| MSI Katana GF76 | 76°C 60W | 82°C 60W | 70°C 60W |
| MSI Katana GF66 (12Ux) | 74°C @ 87W | 75°C @ 87W | 69°C @ 88W |
| ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 15 G533 (2022) | 80°C @ 149W | 81°C @ 149W | – |
| Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-56) | 70°C @ 149W | 72°C @ 149W | 67°C @ 150W |
| MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux) | 71°C @ 92W | 75°C @ 91W | 64°C @ 92W |
| Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s) | 87°C @ 115W | 87°C @ 105W | 87°C @ 113W |
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) | 84°C @ 130W | 86°C @ 128W | – |
| Average | 75°C | 76°C | – |
As we can see the average GPU temperature from these 16 laptops while gaming is 75°C.
Now, depending on the game and resolution, GPU temperature will vary. Usually, the more complex the game is, the higher temperature will be. The same thing applies to resolution, which may play a more important role here.
Normal laptop CPU temp while gaming
Before we continue, I would like to point out one thing. When it comes to the CPU temperature, there are two temperatures we can measure.
CPU junction temperature (can often be read by program apps using the CPU temperature sensing transistor installed. This will probably be the hottest spot and the most sensitive on your laptop. On the other hand, the CPU heatsink temperature is a few degrees cooler than the junction temp, but this one is typically not accessible unless you have a long probe that can reach the heatsink.
Exit air is another thing you can measure. Generally speaking, there will be a slot where the air blows out if your unit has a little fan; this will be cooler than the heatsink temp but warmer than the ambient temperature. A thermometer held at the airflow will measure this. However, this one is generally not measured.
This article would not be complete without some real-life data from various laptops, which is exactly why I decided to dig even more. Note that I will include some data from stress tests besides gaming. While the typical stress test cannot represent real-life use, it is still a good way to assess the laptop’s stability and its cooling system capabilities in the long run.
In this examination, they use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temp. The first column shows a laptop’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column shows a heavy task, and the final column is a solid indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as gaming at highest resolutions or video rendering.
Laptop CPU Temp Under High Load
| Laptop | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15-0:30 sec | 10-15 min |
| MSI Pulse GL76 (12Ux) | 77°C 97W | 83°C 95W | 86°C 85W |
| MSI Katana GF66 (12Ux) | 82°C 98W | 88°C 94W | 86°C 83W |
| MSI Crosshair 15 (B12Ux) | 84°C 97W | 91°C 94W | 88°C 80W |
| MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux) | 83°C 124W | 85°C 107W | 83°C 85W |
| Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-56) | 64°C 103W | 71°C 100W | 87°C 102W |
| Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s) | 89°C 80W | 90°C 73W | 91°C 66W |
| MSI Vector GP66 (12Ux) | 81°C 116W | 83°C 98W | 79°C 86W |
| ASUS ROG Strix G15 G513 | 68°C | 72°C | 74°C |
| ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE (GX551) | 81°C | 86°C | 93°C |
| ASUS TUF Gaming F17 (FX706, 2021) | 92°C 104W | 94°C 90W | 89°C 75W |
| HP Omen 16 (16-b0000) | 85°C 103W | 65°C 50W | 92°C 90W |
| HP Envy 15 (15-ep1000) | 96°C 78W | 96°C 61W | 95°C 49W |
| Lenovo Legion 5i (17″ Intel, 2021) | 96°C 113W | 96°C 101W | 81°C 80W |
| Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-55) | 90°C 103W | 99°C 103W | 99°C 84W |
| MSI Sword 15 | 94°C 60W | 95°C 56W | 95°C 54W |
| Dell XPS 15 9510 | 99°C 82W | 99°C 63W | 93°C 48W |
| Dell G15 5511 | 97°C 100W | 98°C 91W | 93°C 79W |
| MSI Creator Z16 (A11Ux) | 96°C 68W | 95°C 62W | 95°C 53W |
| ASUS TUF F15 (FX506, 2021) (Turbo Mode) | 86°C 102W | 95°C 100W | 87°C 77W |
| MSI Pulse GL66 | 94°C 58W | 94°C 52W | 94°C 52W |
| Average | 87°C | 89°C | 84°C |
Do not forget these are data from the stress test. From my experience, the CPU gaming temperature is somewhat lower, usually averaging between 80 and 85°C.
Gaming laptop idle temp
For those who may not know, laptop idle temp refers to the laptop’s temp when it does not perform any serious task. In other words, your laptop does not do anything.
It is important to remember that a gaming laptop’s normal idle temperature depends on various factors. One of the most obvious is your room temperature. If you use your laptop in the summer at 45 degrees, you cannot expect it to be much lower than that.
On average, gaming laptops’ idle temperature is between 30 and 50°C, which is considered completely normal. If your idle temperature is exceeding that range on a regular basis, you should take a look.
Why you should care about the temp while gaming
Heat is a natural byproduct of electricity, as we all know. Heat transference occurs when something uses energy to start an activity, whether a computer, a car engine or our bodies. The task at hand determines the amount of electricity required.
Components inside your laptop easily produce heat, notably CPU and GPU, since electricity is carried across circuits and experiences resistance.
Overclocking, for example, generates a lot of heat. This occurs when you run your CPU at a higher clock speed than the manufacturer intended. You can usually find ideal clocking rates by going to the manufacturer’s website, but these won’t mean much to you unless you’re well-versed in speeds.
Thermal throttling is something we need to talk about here. In simple terms, thermal throttling is when the BIOS tells the laptop (in this case) to slow down so that it does not overheat.
When your CPU reaches some temperature cutoff, the laptop will tell it to lower its speed and/or power consumption, to reduce how much heat it causes, and will probably also spin up the cooling fans to more quickly disperse waste heat and cool it down, so as not to do damage to the CPU via overheating.
This is crucial to understand since heat is the number one killer of all CPUs and GPUs.
What temperature is too hot for a gaming laptop?
While there is no one-size-fits-all type of answer, we can make some conclusions from the data we provided earlier. Generally speaking, temperatures higher than 95°C are considered to be too hot for most gaming laptops.
Note that laptops can endure these temperatures. However, the impact of heat on the hardware is much greater on such occasions.
It is not a problem if such high temperatures last only for a couple of minutes, but if you constantly reach them for several hours of gaming on a daily basis, that will drastically reduce your laptop’s lifespan.
For instance, my friend used to game on an HP gaming laptop that was constantly at 90°C or above for several years. Is it safe? It is as long as the laptop doesn’t shut down due to overheating.
Is it good for the laptop long-term? I would say no. I always recommend keeping these temperatures lower as much as possible.
Honestly, I don’t know why they keep producing these laptops that have powerful hardware but not enough cooling.
It’s like strapping a V12 on a 4-cylinder car but holding everything else the same. Sure, you might get it to work, and it may move and could transfer you from place to place, but every time you rev the engine hard, you’re gonna be shredding the tires and damaging other parts that are just not up to spec, so it will become unusable, sooner or later.
Unless you work to cool your laptop down by some external means, you will be leaving performance on the table, not to mention it will not last as long as it could have. This is especially important if you plan on mining crypto on your laptop.
How to lower your laptop’s temperature while gaming
Usually, the laptop has a safety system built into it that shuts it down if the CPU goes over certain degrees (usually over 100-110 Celsius). Although during gaming, it could get quite high depending on the following factors:
- The laptop specs (including the age of CPU and GPU, etc.)
- How much pressure is running the game put on the laptop (for instance, if is it on high- graphics)
- Cooling systems of the laptop
- How dusty is the laptop
- How many programs are running in the background
Assuming the laptop can run the game well, the problem might be that the thermal paste of your CPU has dried out. The thermal paste on your laptop’s CPU is for regulating heat by transferring the heat of your CPU to your cooling system. You can either look up how to apply thermal paste on your CPU for your laptop system or give it to some professional.
If that isn’t the case, you may want to look at how many programs are running in the background on your laptop. Programs running in the background can put more additional pressure on your laptop even when you’re not gaming. Some programs start when your system starts.
Another way you could reduce those temperatures is to clean your laptop. Dust can clog up air vents on the sides or back, or bottom of your laptop, causing air not to ventilate out of your laptop. You can try cleaning those vents.
You should also check if your fans are working correctly. If your fans aren’t working as they should, then your CPU will not be cooled and will cause your laptop to heat up.
If it’s a situation where your game is just too heavy for your laptop in terms of graphics, then lowering the in-game graphics settings and resolution can help solve the issue.