Glossary/GPU/Hotspot temperature
Hotspot temperature
Hotspot temperature is the hottest point on a GPU die as reported by its densest sensor, and it is typically 10-20 °C above the reported core temperature.
Also known as GPU hot spot, junction temperature (GPU), Tjunction GPU
Not measurable from a browser
A browser cannot read temperatures, power draw, fan speed, VRAM capacity, clock frequency or native FLOPS. For a direct reading use a native monitor such as HWiNFO64, GPU-Z or lm-sensors. SystemCheck contributes the other half: whether the condition is costing you throughput, measured as decay and consistency.
Modern GPUs carry dozens of on-die sensors. The core or edge temperature is a representative average; the hotspot is the maximum of them all. Boost algorithms respond to the hotspot, so it is the number that actually governs behaviour even though the core figure is the one most commonly displayed.
The delta between core and hotspot is a diagnostic in itself. A gap of 10-15 °C is normal. A gap consistently above 20-25 °C usually indicates degraded thermal interface material, uneven cooler mounting pressure, or pump failure on a liquid-cooled card. A rising delta over months on the same card is a strong signal that the paste or pads have pumped out.
No browser can read this. SystemCheck cannot report hotspot temperature or any other temperature, because the web platform exposes no thermal sensors. Use HWiNFO64, GPU-Z, or your vendor's software for the reading. SystemCheck's role is complementary: it measures whether the resulting decay is bad enough to cost you real performance.
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