Motherboard temperature is important for both the long-term lifespan of the motherboard as well as performance and stability. When your motherboard heats up, the system can become unstable, resulting in crashes and lost work or it could disconnect you from your online match. But what is normal motherboard temperature?
Motherboards can safely operate in a range between 20°C and 80°C. Anything above 80°C can become dangerous. It is normal to see your motherboard operating in the 50-60°C range during hot summer days. The motherboard temperature largely depends on your room temperature as well as how good the airflow inside your case is.
When your CPU and GPU dissipate a lot of heat, the motherboard temperature increases. So, how to lower motherboard temperature? What is normal motherboard temperature when idling and when under full load?
What Is Normal Motherboard Temperature?
It is completely normal for your motherboard temperature to be around 50°C or even more when idling. Of course, this depends a lot on your room temperature. That is why computers heat up significantly more during summer than winter. If you have ever experienced system crashes during hot summer days, overheating is the reason why it happened. But this has more to do with CPU or GPU temperature.
Your motherboard is not doing any processing or rendering, so it does not heat up that much. As long as your motherboard is below 60°C when idling and below 70°C under a full load, there should not be too much to worry about. But keep in mind that 70°C under a full load is quite hot and you might start seeing some stability issues or thermal throttling.
The CPU, GPU, and motherboard temperatures are all related and your hardware is in a closed environment. Even your storage, especially M.2 SSDs, can be affected by high temperatures. So, when your motherboard temperature is high, the most common reason is not enough airflow. So, how do you increase airflow to reduce motherboard temperature?
The easiest way to do that is to simply buy better case fans. You do not need to have a lot of fans. Two or three will do just fine. You want to create negative air pressure to achieve the best results. The difference between neutral and negative air pressure can be significant and it might be the reason why your motherboard is overheating even though you have enough fans.
And if your motherboard temperature is under 60°C under a full load, there is nothing to worry about. But what can you do when you already have good fans that are set up correctly but still experience high motherboard temperatures? In that case, it is best to lower the ambient temperature. If you have an A/C, turn it on and it will make your computer run much cooler.
And if you are seeing some unusually high temperatures, such as ones above 100°C, then it could be a faulty temperature sensor. It is unlikely for your motherboard to warm up that much unless there is something seriously wrong with it. If your motherboard temperature is above 100°C, you will feel the heat inside the PC case. However, do not touch your motherboard as you could short it.
If your motherboard temperature sensor is malfunctioning or if you suspect that the temperatures are extremely high, you could try to RMA it. But if everything else works just fine except for the sensor, then you do not have to worry too much about it as it will not affect your system.
Conclusion
Your motherboard temperature is very important and significant for your computer. If it is constantly running at high temperatures, it could cause issues and die sooner than expected. So, what is normal motherboard temperature? As long as the temperature does not go above 70°C, it should be fine. But everything above 60°C is a sign that your case does not have enough airflow.
You can reduce motherboard temperature by adding more case fans that create negative pressure and by lowering the room temperature. And if the temperature of the motherboard is unusually high, it might be due to a faulty temperature sensor.
