# How can i find of the temperature of my PIII chip while running my comp!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 5, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390 "2002-05-05T13:56:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jukeball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@Jukeball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jukeball)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390/1 "2002-05-05T13:56:04Z")

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The reason for asking , is that I dont think my chip is being cooled properly or not , cause my comp keeps hanging while playing games and stuff , also is there program which tells me if my chip is getting heated.

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**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390/2 "2002-05-05T14:19:16Z")

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Try [Motherboard Monitor](http://mbm.livewiredev.com/).

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**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390/3 "2002-05-05T17:36:16Z")

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Depending on what kind of mobo you have, you may either have a temperature sensor inside the socket where your CPU rests, or you may have been provided with a little wire known as a thermistor. If you weren’t, your motherboard may still have a two-prong attachment for a thermistor, and they’re dirt cheap at your local geek shop.

Remember, there is no real way to take an _exact_ temperature reading. Your concern should be relative only to your own machine, as in, “the temp readings jump 10 deg. C after two hours of fragging, and that’s when it crashes.” Comparison to others’ machines is invalid.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-find-of-the-temperature-of-my-piii-chip-while-running-my-comp/107390/4 "2002-05-05T19:46:23Z")

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You may not be able to get an exact temp down to the closest tenth of a degree or anything, but you can get approximately what the temp is on most motherboards. You want to keep the temp under 45 deg C. If it’s hotter than that then you need to add more cooling (bigger fan/heatsink, or maybe even active cooling if that doesn’t do the job).