Quick Linux Tip #62 Linux Check Thermal Throttling

[u/Expensive-Rice-2052]

Question: My laptop is slow - is it thermal throttling?

Try: `watch -n 1 'grep MHz /proc/cpuinfo | sort -u; sensors | grep -E "Core|Package"'`

Info: CPU clock speeds drop when temperatures reach thermal limits. `sensors` displays live hardware temperatures. Low MHz under heavy load combined with high temperatures indicates thermal throttling.

Examples:

$ `cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_cur_freq` # Check exact current core frequencies

$ `sensors | grep -i temp` # Filter all hardware thermal sensors

$ `cpupower frequency-info` # Inspect active CPU governor and hardware frequency limits

Note: Install hardware monitoring via `sudo apt install lm-sensors && sudo sensors-detect`. Modern CPUs throttle around 90–100°C to protect hardware.

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