You should check your computer's CPU temperatures every few months or when you have performance issues.

Checking your PC's CPU temperature is similar to checking your car's oil: You don't need to do it daily, but you'll need to check your processor's temperatures every few months. This is especially true if you regularly strain your system with higher loads like you'll do with the Best CPUs for gaming, or if you're an enthusiast that overclocks your CPU. Ultimately, keeping your CPU temperatures under control improves performance and reliability.

Luckily, checking your CPU temperature is simple and doesn't require you to open up your PC and stick a thermometer inside. Instead, every CPU comes with built-in digital thermal sensors, so all you need is a bit of software to read the measurements in Windows 10, Windows 11, and other operating systems.

Below we'll break down how to check your CPU temperature, what a safe range of temperatures is for a CPU, and what to do if your CPU's temperatures are too high.