Will this be safe ? Lappy crunching

RedShred

RedShred

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 6, 2001
Messages
2,756
I just bought my self a hard earned and well deserved (atleast to me) brand spankin new Dell 9300. It only has a 1.73 Pentium M, 1.0 gig of ram and an nvidia 6800 go video card :D .

Anyway, I have this phobia where the power switch can fail rendering a PC useless so I never shut my PC's off. So they should be actively doing something... right?

So... Will 24/7 folding boil my 9300 ? I dont rest my laptops on their bottoms, I actually set them like this: /\ on the stand next to my comfy chair so they dont bake.
 
Should be fine. My sis has a Dell 9x00 (dont remember which) for 6 months now and she has been folding at 100% without a problem. :)

If you want to be cautious, set CPU usage to 75% or have a fan running next to it.
 
I'm still wary of folding on laptops. Mine gets hot enough while just running Windows, let alone folding at 100%...plus, it just drains the battery so damn fast, you can only run it plugged in.

magnusvir said:
Should be fine. My sis has a Dell 9x00 (dont remember which) for 6 months now and she has been folding at 100% without a problem. :)

If you want to be cautious, set CPU usage to 75% or have a fan running next to it.
Click to expand...
 
you can make sure it doesn't not run on batts

I run folding on my lappy while plugged in and with 70% power

 
My Gateway 3522GZ (14", Pentium-M 1.6GHz) folds at full speed when its plugged in. The client, setup as a service, is set to pause when it goes to battery. It hardly gets warm.

A couple suggestions... get a cooling pad for it and set it on a desk. I use a Targus ChillHub, just get something to keep air moving around the outside of that puppy. The Centrinos dont get too warm, but it's still a good idea.

Also, check out Notebook Hardware Control (formerly Centrino Hardware Control). It'll let you change CPU settings including voltages. My PM1.6, which runs at 1.34v at 1.6Ghz by default, runs perfectly fine (Prime95 stable for 36+ hours) at 1.084v. Your mileage may vary, but that sure lowered my temps!

I have no worries folding on my laptop. Worst that can happen is premature failure of the internal fan... and I've had fans running in desktop machines for many, many years without failing, so I'm not too concerned. (plus, I worked at Best Buy when I got this laptop, so hello 3 year service plan :rolleyes: )

EDIT - link. http://www.pbus-167.com/chc.htm
 
I have 3 laptops at home folding 24/7, set to use 100% CPU without a hitch. Two IBM's and one Toshiba. I have several laptops at work including a few Dell's folding too, IMO laptops are the trick setup for folding, since they're small, quiet and use less power to do the same work as a regular PC :cool:
 
I have two laptops folding in my little farm. Both have been going non-stop for a year now. The previous laptops that I had were used for three or more years for folding.
 
I have 5 laptops folding all the time. One of them has been at it for a year and a half now with no worries.
 
I am in the same boat:

I just bought an HP dv4000 with money I received from a graduate student competition. This makes it pretty much not replaceable if I break it.

These are the precautions I took:

1. Installed Notebook Hardware Control to monitor temps when folding or gaming (both total almost 24/7).

2. Using NHC, I undervolted as much as I could and remain stable. The P-M will change clockspeeds and voltages based on workload, but if you fold it will run at max speed/voltage 24/7. I undervolted from 1.356V at 15x to 1.148V at 15x. My max temps dropped from 75C while folding to 60-65C (on a hot day). This should reduce heat build-up in the other parts of the notebook.

3. At work and at home, I place the notebook on a cookie cooling sheet (is that a term?) It's about 0.5 inches off the surface and is grated. This allows better airflow.

These are the precautions I took. Essentially, the notebook should be fine folding stock 24/7. But if you can reduce the wear (due to heat build-up) and not lose performance, I don't see why not to undervolt and elevate.

Good luck and Happy folding.

 
Congrats on the new laptop! Feel free to let us know how it folds. ;)
 
I have a Sony Vaio sitting right next to me, folding 100% CPU usage and has since I started folding last month, not a single problem. Just make sure it can get proper ventilation (mine hands off the side of the desk so the bottom fan can suck in air). 3.06GHz P4 with 512MB of memory.

Full Folding Ahead!

 
The biggest problem I have ran into is that I have significantly shortened my battery life because my laptop runs so hot and that will reduce the battery life. After a year of FAH, I would only get about 45 minutes of runtime out of my battery before the lappy would shutdown.

My $.02 worth.

Fold On!!!
 
RedShred said:
I just bought my self a hard earned and well deserved (atleast to me) brand spankin new Dell 9300. It only has a 1.73 Pentium M, 1.0 gig of ram and an nvidia 6800 go video card :D .

Anyway, I have this phobia where the power switch can fail rendering a PC useless so I never shut my PC's off. So they should be actively doing something... right?

So... Will 24/7 folding boil my 9300 ? I dont rest my laptops on their bottoms, I actually set them like this: /\ on the stand next to my comfy chair so they dont bake.
Click to expand...

I have the exact laptop and configuration, minus the 6800 video card, and my laptop has been folding 24/7 for 3-4 weeks straight now. Unless you have warm ambient temps in your house then heat will not be an issue. My house stays around 70F degrees and 9300 runs 100-105F sitting down flat on whatever I set it on.

When you install F@H install it as a service. Enable the extra options and toggle the one related to automatically pausing F@H off when the laptop goes on battery.

I also have EMIII running on this laptop to monitor the F@H installs on 2 other PCs at home. I do all email, websurfing and light photo editing on this laptop. Gotta love the 17" widescreen. :p

 
RedShred - Don't worry -
Also DON'T water them!!
I've an IBM thinkpad t23 that's been crunching since I joined the [H], usually 24/7 with time off for travel. Did burn out a couple of hard drives though.
I'm currently also running (and typing on) a Compaq Presario 3000 w/ a 2.8Ghz processor, been running 24/7 for months.
Just keep it off the carpet etc.



/edit - note that it's been 4.5 years
 
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