High temps on low CPU load, ASUS N61Jq

My laptop is a good 2 years old, and in Summer 2012 I cleaned it out with vacuum cleaner/compressed air. Haven't seen the CPU or the thermal paste, haven't touched that, only the fans.
It's used every day, several hours a day and regularly I game on it.

Intel Core i7 720QM @ 1.60GHz
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N61Jq (Socket 989)
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5700 Series (ASUStek Computer Inc)

The temperatures while browsing and doing some stuff are 65-73 degrees for the CPU, and the same for the Motherboard.
The GPU is around 60 degrees then.
This is while my CPU is at 25% load, and physical memory at 45%. I have 2 browsers open, several folder, Word 2010, Steam, ....
Nothing is compressing or encoding or something, just browsing and working.

Is this normal? I'll clean the laptop out for sure in 2013, same thing like I did last time.

 

Those temperatures don't sound too bad, although your CPU running at that frequency shouldn't be quite that hot, I think. What are you using to identify your load and examine your temperatures?

 

Speccy in this case.

I gamed for 2 hours and it went up to 70-78. One moment my motherboard was just 80 degrees, after 2 hours.

Nothing problematic I think, I'm glad it is only that high. I've heard at 90 it's really starting to get a problem.

 

Commonplace temps with substantial load tend to reach 80 - 90 degrees Celsius, with 90 being considered somewhat normal but still reaching an unsafe territory (after all, that's nearly 200 degrees Fahrenheit).

You may need a repaste, as well as to clean out the vents and fan. If you put more load, then you may hit temps that could cause instability.