How Hot Is Too Hot?

Question

I have a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. I installed Ubuntu MATE but decided to go back to Raspbian as Ubuntu MATE was very slow. But during the short lived time I had with Ubuntu MATE, the processor's temperature go up, so now I am worried, how hot is too hot?

The CPU is pretty hot when doing tasks like apt-get upgrade, and when I run /opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp, temperatures are hovering in the mid 40's to low 50's in °C, which is more than 100°F. Is that not normal?

Have you seen this? https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/103/whats-the-maximum-minimum-running-temperature — SDsolar, Apr 11 '18 at 05:33

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 14 '19 at 14:37

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The maximum operating temperature of the Raspberry Pi is 85°C so 40-50°C is probably OK.

Raspbian shows a thermometer in the corner of the screen when the Raspberry Pi reaches 80°C which slowly fills up until the Raspberry Pi reaches 85°C.

edited Mar 14 '19 at 14:37

Roger Jones

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answered Mar 14 '19 at 11:03

Hello. Nice answer but can you add any sources for the 85°C figure you quoted? – Roger Jones Mar 14 '19 at 11:32

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 01 '23 at 21:30

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The Raspberry Pi foundation has the 85C temp rating as a qualifier for their boards, pre rpi4. Check the supporting documentation for your particular board as it's definitely listed there.

answered May 01 '23 at 21:30

James

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community May 02 '23 at 07:22

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 10 '18 at 23:38

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Those temperatures may be a little high for the kinds of loads you're describing, although, from experience, my Pi 3 begins to thermal throttle at 80 degrees Celsius and rarely (if ever) exceeds 85 degrees Celsius. It's easy to worry about the temperature of the SoC and under heavy loads you can expect to burn your finger upon touching it, it's normal.

Is your Pi encased in an enclosure, or do you use a heatsink?

tl;dr Don't worry.

answered Apr 10 '18 at 23:38

Benjamin Crawford

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I use a case and aluminum heatsink, although sometimes I remove the top casing. – flash76 Apr 11 '18 at 00:11
Here is a great Q&A on that exact subject: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/103/whats-the-maximum-minimum-running-temperature – SDsolar Apr 11 '18 at 03:28

How Hot Is Too Hot?

3 Answers3