Temperature Gauge

I bought my computer in November 2009. The tower has always ran silent and never gave me a problem. Tonight I'm hearing an occasional ~whirring~ noise that lasts for about 3 seconds. The fan kicked in once for a few seconds, I've never heard it run before, lol. I'm surfing the net as usual, nothing different. I took a flashlight and I didn't see much dust at all inside the case, it's well ventilated. The room is usually fairly cool, but today it's 1-2 degrees higher. Would the computer be that sensitive? Is there a very simple temperature program for dummies that would tell me if the computer is too hot or about to call it quits?
Thanks!

 

I like HWMonitor, it gives me everything I need. It doesn't sound unreasonable that the fan spins up once in a while. If the fan starts whirring often then you might have a problem, maybe as easy as changing the fan. Just watch your temps until you get used to the normal ones.

 

Have you ever checked inside to see if it is dirty?

 

So, how do you know max temps for all the chips and stuff?rolleyes

 

Select your machine type on top and max temps on the left, 3/4 down the page.

http://www.cpu-world.com/cgi-bin/CPU_Chart.pl