I am currently running BOINC on my school laptop; its a Core Duo 2.16 w/ a 256MB dedicated graphics card and 2GB of RAM. I will probably be able to run BOINC approx. 40% of the time. Is it worth it to start a cp.net WU, or would I be better off continuing on other projects?

Are you just going to run CPDN? I have it running on my 2.0G Core Duo laptop, with a 30% time share (so less than the 40% you purpose), and it will take me approximately 90 days to complete a model.

Do you think you can give about 90-100 days of processing power to your model(s)? Of course this is without using the screen saver. The screen saver may increase your time some, because it takes a lot to process that 3D globe, etc.

The project is worth the help. If you think you can get through the model, then go for it. I process and master videos and DVDs with it running in the background, and have not had an issue with speed, etc. The Core Duos are pretty good in all the work I\'ve done so far.

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Are you just going to run CPDN? I have it running on my 2.0G Core Duo laptop, with a 30% time share (so less than the 40% you purpose), and it will take me approximately 90 days to complete a model.

Do you think you can give about 90-100 days of processing power to your model(s)? Of course this is without using the screen saver. The screen saver may increase your time some, because it takes a lot to process that 3D globe, etc.

The project is worth the help. If you think you can get through the model, then go for it. I process and master videos and DVDs with it running in the background, and have not had an issue with speed, etc. The Core Duos are pretty good in all the work I\'ve done so far.

Is there any way to run the one thread over both cores, instead of running two separate threads?

Is there any way to run the one thread over both cores, instead of running two separate threads?

Spanning cores is not possible. Some things have been tried but it never works. The software used for the model crunching is Fortran, which is an older programming language. It is used because it suits this projects processing needs well. None of the projects I know of can span multi-threaded / processor machines.

You can tell the server to only use 1 processor. This way one model would run, leaving the 2nd processor free for whatever needed it. It\'s a good option for what seems to be your needs. This way you could leave the one model process the whole time the computer is on.

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Is there any way to run the one thread over both cores, instead of running two separate threads?

Spanning cores is not possible. Some things have been tried but it never works. The software used for the model crunching is Fortran, which is an older programming language. It is used because it suits this projects processing needs well. None of the projects I know of can span multi-threaded / processor machines.

You can tell the server to only use 1 processor. This way one model would run, leaving the 2nd processor free for whatever needed it. It\'s a good option for what seems to be your needs. This way you could leave the one model process the whole time the computer is on.

The problem is, this laptop is VERY poorly designed, and running 100% of a core routinely gives ACPI temps of 95C-99C... I don\'t want to subject my comp to that much stress... that\'s why I set BOINC to use 80% of the processor, and have it on about half of the time (there seems to be a threshold at about 85-90% where it jumps from 75 to 90C)

The problem is, this laptop is VERY poorly designed, and running 100% of a core routinely gives ACPI temps of 95C-99C... I don\'t want to subject my comp to that much stress... that\'s why I set BOINC to use 80% of the processor, and have it on about half of the time (there seems to be a threshold at about 85-90% where it jumps from 75 to 90C)

So I see you are running the single core, and using the percentage ability through BOINC. This is good.

I can give you some laptop advice: Keep the lid always open. This allows the heat to be able to dissipate faster. Get a laptop cooler. These are usually a 2 or 3 fan (I prefer the 3 fan model) that plug in USB and the fans help remove the heat, and it also gets the laptop off the desk a little for more air flow. Keep all the vents open (move cords, etc. away), and blow the dust out often (on one I had to do it weekly). Give it 360 degrees of freedom. By this I mean do not put in a desk where the heat gets trapped in the space provided. It\'s better on a table.

90-95C is very, very hot, especially for a laptop.

Two points from me:
1. Laptops are much more sensitive to the impact of higher temperatures than is the case with desktop machines In addition, their cooling capacity is considerable lower. I would think that any temperature over 75C should be avoided.
2. Running only one model by telling it to use only one processor will result in lower temperatures, even though it uses that one processor\'s free capacity. Make sure (via task manager) that the priority is on low.

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Warped

It\'s possible to cool laptops a bit more by raising the whole machine slightly off the table surface (not just the little legs at the back). This increases the air flow and allows more heat to escape.

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90-95C is very, very hot, especially for a laptop.

Two points from me:
1. Laptops are much more sensitive to the impact of higher temperatures than is the case with desktop machines In addition, their cooling capacity is considerable lower. I would think that any temperature over 75C should be avoided.
2. Running only one model by telling it to use only one processor will result in lower temperatures, even though it uses that one processor\'s free capacity. Make sure (via task manager) that the priority is on low.

It\'s just the design of the laptop. It\'s an HP, and they decided to put the air intakes on the BOTTOM... it\'s a rather smart decision that has it heat up no matter what.
The processor doesn\'t trigger a thermal warning until 99 or so.

I used two biros taped to a surface to raise my HP laptop slightly, which keeps the ports clear.

The pens would make it a bit unstable to type onto, but I don\'t type on the keyboard or use the touchpad, I VNC to it instead from a proper computer. Can\'t stand laptop keyboards/touchpads/screens....

The intake-on-base seems to be quite common (the laptop coolers mentioned earlier force air onto the base too).

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I\'ve been running various programmes and monitoring systems on a variety of hardware over the years. In my experience, Prime95 seemed to be the most intensive user of the CPU and raised the temperature more than any other distributed project. In fact this is used for stress testing hardware.

I found that MBM (Motherboard Monitor) is the most user-friendly monitoring sotware but can only get another programme, Speedfan, to work on my single processor HP notebook which also has the air intake at the bottom. My dual-core desktop is monitored by some intel software.

Having said all that, I have never seen a CPU temperature higher than about 80C. I was under the impression that intel processors automatically slow down to protect themselves and that the dual-core design is much more energy (and therfore heat) efficient than previous designs.

Under extreme conditions (ambient temperature approaching 40C, both cores crunching away and a DVD being watched at the same time on the dual-core machine, the temperature remains under 60C. All that happens is that the fan(s) speed up. Granted, this is a desktop. Nevertheless, I would think that 99C is about at self-destruct levels.

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Warped

90-95C is very, very hot, especially for a laptop.

But not as bad as this http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/11/white_hot_compaq/ :-)

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But not as bad as this http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/11/white_hot_compaq/ :-)

See what that Global Warming is taking us to?

How come though his CPU didn\'t melt right through his laptop, his desk, the floor(s) and the earth under his building? ;-)

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Jord.

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Just as well he wasn\'t keeping his laptop on his lap ... :-)

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My laptop has hit a 90+ Celcius reading a couple of times when I left it running BOINC without keeping an eye on things. Apparently, my laptop does not run the fan after coming out of Hibernation. I\'ve figured that out now, but on vacation last year I put the system into hibernation after using it on battery (BOINC not running), plugged it in and fired it back up (BOINC running) and went to the pool. When I got back, I could barely touch any part of it due to heat. It happened again, also after hibernation on battery and plugged-in restart and I dried doing it deliberately a few more times to the same effect.

IIRC, the shutdown temp on Pentium M\'s, Core and Core 2 Duo is 100C. That\'s not to say that anything over 70 is a good idea, 50\'s if it\'s actualy going to be in your lap. If those temps really are 95C and not 95F, I\'d be surprised if you could touch any part of it without getting burned.

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Guys, look after your laps as well as your laptops!

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=1595

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