More important: CPU temp, or memory/hard drive/chipset temp?

Hi guys - is CPU temp the most important part of laptop cooling? For example, I'm using i8kfangui to monitor fan speed and cpu temp. My temp ranges from about 50 c to 60 c before the fan kicks on. That's with web browsing and listening to music. The bottom of the laptop gets pretty warm (almost hot after about an hour or so like this on battery). Do I also need to monitor the memory / hard drive / and chipset temps as well? Or is the CPU temp a general guide for all other temps in the laptop as well? BTW, my CPU never seems to budge from 2ghz.
My specs are Dell M1210, 2ghz Core 2 Duo (T7400), 2 gig 667mhz DDR ram, NVidia Go7400, 160gb HD.

 

Good question.

If the CPU / GPU / memory get too hot then you might get errors starting to appear, but too hot in this context is well above 60C. The maximum rated operating temperature for 2.5" HDDs is normally 55C. I've had a couple of notebooks (one was a Dell Inspiron 8000, the other an Asus W3A) where the HDD regularly exceeded the rated temperature which can't be good for its life expectancy. Depending on the design of the notebook's cooling system, the HDD may be actively cooled by air passing by, or could be passively heated if the whole system temperature is allowed to rise in order to reduce fan activity.

Therefore I recommend you watch the HDD temperature and keep it well below 50C in normal use - 45C is a good target since the HDD will heat up during heavy HDD activity such as a virus scan.

John