cpu running 100% - SETI client

[rh71]

running SETI client at work 24/7, but was wondering how much it effects the cpu down the road. I am thinking about running it all the time at home as well. Does running the cpu 100% for an extended period of time effect it much more above the normal wear and tear ?

[SDT]

As long as you keep the heat down it does not cause a problem. Even when a cpu isn't executing a program it is executing idle cycles to refresh memory etc. All seti & rc5 are doing is using the idle cycles as processing cycles.

[Axel]

The primary cause of damage to electrical components is the expanding and contracting of system components due to "changes" in temperature. That is unless you have the CPU in anything over 80 degrees F. The typical CPU case will run at a constant 95 degrees F with a powersupply fan and a cpu fan on a heat sink in a room comfortable to most people in North America.

You are doing more damage to your system from an electro/mechanical standpoint by turning it off & on than you would leaving it running all of the time. More changes in temperature and the expansion/contraction caused by the changes will fracture enough connections on a molecular level that the unit will fail.

With that said - in my experience, eventually, the fans in the system will fail and need to be replaced. Don't leave CD's in CD-ROM drives that don't spin down when inactive. Don't close the air conditioner vent in the room the computer sits in.

Next - "typically" UNIX needs less rebooting than Linux which needs less rebooting than Windows NT which needs less rebooting than 95 or 98....

95 or 98 can be expected to crash every few days if you have a lot of things running. I reboot my NT servers about 3 times a month and have experience with UNIX boxes running hundreds of tasks constantly which ran fine for 2 years without a reboot...... Some of this has to do with the efficiency of file management, some with memory use, interrupt handling, and how cleanly a process within the code releases resources back to the system. So - some small part of this equation is operating system related.

Next - I do turn off my monitor when I'm not in front of the unit. With or without temperature changes, monitors have a relatively fixed number of hours in their useful life. Same as a light bulb. Also - most modern monitors have a degaussing function ( the humm on start-up ) this happens every time the monitor is started for a reason - it demagnetizes the internal components - otherwise, the electro-magnetized components in the tube warp the picture ruining resolution.

Best advice - open your case and add as many heat sinks and fans as you have room for within the case - hard drives can use heat sinks as well, I/O chips, and don't forget a light coat of thermal paste between the heat sink and the item being cooled. Avoid painting heat sinks - paint traps heat - anodized is better.... Also - move the ribbon cables out of the way to get better air flow -

[rh71]

While you say running the machine all the time does less damage than turning it off and on... what about running the processor at 100% all the time?

There is something else I've wondered - does rebooting the computer do the same kind of 'damage' to it as a hard boot? I know it's still warm with a reboot.. let's just say I turn off the computer and turn it back on within 20 seconds. Does a reboot hurt just as much as a 20 second hard boot?

I sometimes do a few reboots within 5 minutes because I'm tweaking the registry or something...

Thanks for all the good information.

[Red Rage]

I don't think doing a warm boot (the start shut down, restart thingy) would cause any damage to components.

Doing a hard reboot could cause damnage but I would highly doubt you would cause any major damage unless there is another problem in there somewhere. I don't know enough about electronics to explain it but unless you turn it off on off on off on off on off on off on off on ... etc all the time I don't think you have much to worry about unless you wana have the pc forever then never turn it off again http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Perhaps some1 else can explain it better.


As far as running at 100% constantly.. I don't think so.. just keep an eye on the heat thats all if it gets extremely hot then I would pop the case and rework your cooling

[daveleau]

The only real risk you run is if a fan fails and the heat goes up. Otherwise, the 100% is fine. Like he said, just making idle cycles count. In Win 9x the 100% of the CPU is doing something. It just depends on whether it is busy-work (idle) or not. That is why RAIN and WATERFALL do good work. They send halt signals to parts of the CPU not in use, thus lowering the temp.
Dave

[rtyp3]

RAIN and WATERFALL? What is this? Could you tell me a little more, or link?

[rh71]

Thanks for all the good info guys. I use CPUIdle, personally... but everyone has their own preference. There's good arguments to use each of them.

rtyp3, it's basically a program that runs in your systray which cools your CPU when you're not using it. I've seen 30-40 degree fahrenheit drops when idle!