I recently switched from Tiny11 to Bazzite. Before the switch, my CPU and GPU temperatures were usually around 90–100°C, but now they rarely go above 80°C according to btop. Is this a normal result of using a lighter operating system with fewer background processes, or could something be configured incorrectly?
3 Answers
A heavily modded Minecraft setup can be useful for testing, but it may stress the CPU more than the GPU depending on your settings and hardware. For a more complete check, use a CPU stress test and a GPU benchmark separately, then compare temperatures, clock speeds, utilization, and power draw with the expected values for your hardware.
It’s fairly common for a leaner Linux-based setup to produce less heat and fan noise, especially if the previous installation had lots of services running in the background. As long as performance hasn’t dropped and the CPU and GPU are reaching their normal clocks under load, there’s probably nothing to worry about.
That kind of temperature drop can definitely happen if the new system is running fewer background tasks. The best way to verify that everything is working properly is to run a demanding game or benchmark and check whether the CPU and GPU can still reach close to full usage and their expected power draw. If they can, the lower temperatures are probably a good sign rather than a problem.
I don't play many demanding games. Would a benchmark be better, or would modded Minecraft 1.21.1 with around 100 mods be enough to test it?
That makes sense. I’ve been using it for about a week and a half, and the lower noise has been really noticeable. The fans used to sound like a plane taking off.