How can I check cpu temp on my desktop mac

jperri20 wrote:

What is a safe operating temperature for my imac desktop (mac OS 14.4.1, Apple M1 chip)?

And how can I check the temperature?

for M1 SoC ref third party: iStatistica

other options: TG Pro & Sensai, *GitHub/stats

iStatistica on the Mac App Store

*https://github.com/exelban/stats

M1/M2 Sensors data on the first generation of M1 mac could be obtained only from HID services.

It's disabled by default because it consumes a lot of CPU and energy.

You can enable it in the Sensors module settings with the option HID sensors.

Keep your Mac notebook within acceptable operating temperatures

Keep your Mac laptop within acceptable operating temperatures - Apple Support

One app that does this is called iStat Menus from Bjango dot com. It provides many other system stats as well and uses very little of system resources to run in real time.

• Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)

There are some Third Party Applications can could give you an idea of the Temperature

Personally, I do not bother looking for trouble as trouble will find me itself would me looking for it

The computer will normally Throttle when and if the computer is operating in an elevated temperature state

You would know this, when the " kernel_ task " process is very elevated and consuming a lot of CPU processing

ie and refer to image below

Taken from Activity Monitor >> View >> View All Processes

The screen shot is from a M2 Mac Mini running with Sonoma 14.5 and has been up and operating for about 5 hours

This nifty application is free or paid for additional features

It is Designed for Laptops but have check with the Developer.

It can be used on Desktops too

https://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutbattery/

Below if from their website

It should measure from the Builtin Sensor of the computer the Temperature

kmb kmbp: How to deal with MacBook Pro an… - Apple Community is an older tip I'm the process of rewriting.

But the basic gist is the same.

Heat is clearly an issue when the machine shuts down without any prompting from you in any of your Energy Saver settings, and does so in the middle of operation.

Otherwise the issue is more muddy, and you will want either the hardware diagnostics to indicate there is a problem, or a reproducible problem on an erase and installed system after backing up data that indicates something is clearly tying up processing or graphics operations with just the hardware of the computer.

Once you start adding any software or drivers, that muddies discovering the extent of any issue.

If you are not in the position to erase your system and Apple hardware diagnostics is unrevealing, run:

Etrecheck - the handy reporting tool for … - Apple Community

And report back the results here. We can tell you what software may be causing problems in the background.

You're welcome.

You are welcome

Though, this is less a personal perspective and more Technical