FreeBSD find CPU (processor) temperature command

I am a new FreeBSD Unix user. How do I get the temperature of an Intel or AMD processor (CPU) in FreeBSD using command line option? Is there a command line option for determining CPU temperature on FreeBSD Unix operating system version 9.x/10.x/11.x/12.x/13.x?

Tutorial details
Difficulty level	Easy
Root privileges	Yes
Requirements	FreeBSD
Est. reading time	5 mintues

You can read data from FreeBSD kernel using any one the following method. FreeBSD users can check cpu temperature with the following commands.

FreeBSD find CPU (processor) temperature command

You must enable coretemp kernel device driver for Intel based cpu for digital thermal sensor. See below how to load the driver as a module at boot time using /boot/loader.conf file on a FreeBSD to get CPU temperature. The coretemp driver reports each CPU core’s temperature through a sysctl command.

Monitoring the CPU temperature of your FreeBSD Unix box

Load the FreeBSD kernel driver/module using the kldload command:
sudo kldload -v coretemp
Here is what we see:

Loaded coretemp, id=15

What about AMD cpus?

You need to use the amdtemp device driver for AMD processor on-die digital thermal sensor. We can load it as follows:
sudo kldload -v amdtemp
Now that we installed modules let us try to find CPU temp.

How to determine CPU temperature on FreeBSD

Type the following command to see cpu temperature in FreeBSD operating system:
$ sysctl -a | grep temperature
OR
$ sysctl dev.cpu | grep temperature

How to load coretemp or amdtemp driver at boot time automatically

For Intel based cpu you need to load and use coretemp driver. To load the driver as a module at boot time, append the following line in loader.conf(5):
# vi /boot/loader.conf
Append the following for Intel CPUs:
coretemp_load="YES"
Add the following if you are using AMD CPUs:
amdtemp_load="YES"
Save and close the file. To load the driver without rebooting the box, enter:
# kldload coretemp
And for AMD CPUs:
# kldload amdtemp
Once loaded you can verify it with dmesg command
# dmesg | tail -10
Sample outputs:

igb0: link state changed to UP
arp: 192.168.2.254 moved from 20:5c:24:70:00:f8 to 00:08:a2:0a:ba:b8 on igb0
coretemp0: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu0
coretemp1: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu1
coretemp2: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu2
coretemp3: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu3
coretemp4: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu4
coretemp5: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu5
coretemp6: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu6
coretemp7: <CPU On-Die Thermal Sensors> on cpu7

Now to determine your CPU temperature on FreeBSD, type:
# sysctl -a | grep -i temperature
Sample output from Intel Xeon E3-1285L v4 CPU:

hw.acpi.thermal.tz1.temperature: 29.9C
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C
dev.cpu.7.temperature: 41.0C
dev.cpu.6.temperature: 41.0C
dev.cpu.5.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.4.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 41.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 41.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 40.0C

A note about ipmitool

To see detailed sensor information use ipmitool (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) command as follows on your FreeBSD based server:
# ipmitool sensor
Sample outputs:

ATX+5VSB         | 5.070      | Volts      | ok    | 4.230     | 4.710     | na        | na        | 5.550     | 5.610     
+3VSB            | 3.500      | Volts      | ok    | 2.780     | 2.820     | na        | na        | 3.660     | 3.680     
Vcore            | 0.830      | Volts      | ok    | 0.540     | 0.560     | 0.600     | 1.490     | 1.560     | 1.640     
VCCM             | 1.350      | Volts      | ok    | 1.090     | 1.120     | na        | na        | 1.720     | 1.750     
+1.1             | 1.090      | Volts      | ok    | 0.850     | 0.890     | 0.940     | 1.150     | 1.210     | 1.270     
+1.0             | 1.020      | Volts      | ok    | 0.850     | 0.890     | 0.940     | 1.150     | 1.210     | 1.270     
BAT              | 3.200      | Volts      | ok    | 2.380     | 2.500     | na        | na        | 3.580     | 3.680     
+3V              | 3.300      | Volts      | ok    | 2.780     | 2.820     | na        | na        | 3.660     | 3.680     
+5V              | 5.010      | Volts      | ok    | 4.230     | 4.710     | na        | na        | 5.550     | 5.610     
+12V             | 12.200     | Volts      | ok    | 10.100    | 10.300    | na        | na        | 13.300    | 13.400    
CPU_FAN1         | na         | RPM        | na    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
REAR_FAN1        | na         | RPM        | na    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
FRNT_FAN1        | na         | RPM        | na    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
FRNT_FAN2        | na         | RPM        | na    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
REAR_FAN2        | 1200.000   | RPM        | ok    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
CPU_FAN2         | na         | RPM        | na    | na        | na        | 100.000   | na        | na        | na        
MB Temperature   | 55.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 80.000    | na        | na        
CPU Temperature  | 52.000     | degrees C  | ok    | na        | na        | na        | 80.000    | 85.000    | 90.00

Reading out both CPU and acpi thermal temperature

Again use the grep command/egrep command:
sudo sysctl -a | grep -E 'acpi.thermal.*temperature|dev.cpu.*temperature'
Outputs from my Intel NUC with Intel Core i7-8650U CPU:

hw.acpi.thermal.tz1.temperature: 29.9C
hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 27.9C
dev.cpu.7.temperature: 39.0C
dev.cpu.6.temperature: 39.0C
dev.cpu.5.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.4.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 40.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 38.0C
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 38.0C

See “FreeBSD CPU Information Command” for more info.

FreeBSD only command line tool to display CPU temp and battery details

First install the hwstat as following using the pkg command:
$ sudo pkg install hwstat
Confirm installation when prompted by system:

Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
FreeBSD repository is up to date.
All repositories are up to date.
The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

New packages to be INSTALLED:
	hwstat: 0.5.1

Number of packages to be installed: 1

7 KiB to be downloaded.

Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y
[1/1] Fetching hwstat-0.5.1.txz: 100%    7 KiB   7.3kB/s    00:01    
Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting)
[1/1] Installing hwstat-0.5.1...
[1/1] Extracting hwstat-0.5.1: 100%

Now type:
hwstat
And we see details:

					Current				Unit
[Coretemp]
	CPU0:				38.0				C
	CPU1:				38.0				C
	CPU2:				40.0				C
	CPU3:				40.0				C
	CPU4:				39.0				C
	CPU5:				39.0				C
	CPU6:				39.0				C
	CPU7:				39.0				C

[ACPI Thermal]
	tz0:				27.9				C

[ACPI Thermal]
	tz1:				29.9				C

Displaying temperature in Fahrenheit

hwstat -f

Showing the temperature in Kelvins

hwstat -k
See “FreeBSD Laptop Find Out Battery Life Status Command” for getting info about laptop battry.

Conclusion

You just learned how to check cpu temperature on a FreeBSD based system. For more info see coretemp docs here/here and read the man pages by typing the following man command:
$ man 4 coretemp # <- for INTEL cpus
$ man 4 amdtemp # <- for AMD cpus
$ man 8 sysctl

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