HARDWARE8 records
Hardware Diagnostics Reference
Safe temperature ranges, SSD health, memory speed, firmware and interface references, with the caveats manufacturers actually publish.
Temperature and health figures depend on the specific component, its generation, the form factor (desktop or laptop) and the ambient conditions. These records give ranges and the manufacturer limits where they are published, rather than a single number presented as universally safe. To read your own values, use the vendor's utility or a reputable monitor such as HWiNFO.
Temperatures
Safe ranges for CPU, GPU and storage, with the caveats manufacturers actually publish.
- Normal CPU temperatureIdle, load and gaming rangesA modern desktop CPU typically runs 30–45°C at idle, 60–80°C under sustained load and up to the mid-80s°C…
- Normal GPU temperatureIdle, gaming and hotspot limitsA modern graphics card usually idles at 30–50°C and runs 60–85°C while gaming, which is normal.…
- Normal NVMe SSD temperatureOperating range and throttlingNVMe M.2 SSDs normally run about 35–55°C idle and can reach 60–75°C under sustained load, which is within…
Storage
SSD health and drive condition.
Memory
RAM speed, generations and what the numbers mean.
Firmware & interfaces
BIOS, UEFI and expansion interfaces.
- BIOS vs UEFIFirmware, boot modes and Secure BootUEFI is the modern replacement for the legacy BIOS firmware that starts a PC. UEFI supports disks larger…
- PCIe versionsBandwidth per generation and lane countsEach PCI Express generation roughly doubles the bandwidth per lane of the previous one: PCIe 3.0 gives about…