ppc gets hotter when idle than under load

[gwydionwaters]

i noticed that my powerbook is fine at keeping itself cool when i'm using it, even heavily. it does however become very hot to the touch after it has sat idle for a few hours or more, it is like the power management system doesn't think to cool it. any ideas?

[the_squircle]

The PPC chips are very power- and heat-inefficient. The fans will speed up when your system is under high load, and make it cooler. But when your system is under low load, the PPC chips are consuming almost as much power as they would at full utilization, and it gets hot (as the fans don't come on because the processor isn't being used too too much).