Are these temps ok to run continuously?

[lectrocrew]

I've resumed running F@H program at 100% on both cores of my laptop (HP Compaq - in specs). I just cleaned the CPU heat sink last week. Will continuous operation at these temps cause a problem?


[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[Computer_Commando]

80degC on a laptop or desktop is too high.

[Transfusion]

80degC on a laptop or desktop is too high.

I agree. I once left my HP ProBook 4510s (which is now dead for other reasons) on for an entire week encoding a few 14 GB HD 1080p videos at home with HandBrake. I did check temps through remote desktop while away, they averaged 75C. In the afternoon, temps would go up to 90C. (I found out later that the Tj. Max was 105C. ) When I came back I noticed that 4 of the 7 videos I had put in the encoding queue were corrupted.

[quaxo]

Yeah, that's a bit too hot. When you cleaned the heat sink, did you remove it? And if you removed it, did you reapply thermal paste? Is there a fan in the laptop and is it working properly? Has it been cleaned?

Are all the vents on the laptop clear of any obstructions? Are you using a cooling pad of some sort?

[lectrocrew]

Thanks to everybody for your replies!
I configured F@H to run at 50% CPU usage and the new speedfan readings are attached (core temp=72). But I'd like to run a bit faster if possible. The project I'm running now has a final deadline of 4 days and at this rate the ETA is 3.88 days.
So I configured F@H to run 70% and the core temp shows 74.
So I'll modify my original question - What temp is safe to run continuously?

Yeah, that's a bit too hot. When you cleaned the heat sink, did you remove it? And if you removed it, did you reapply thermal paste? Is there a fan in the laptop and is it working properly? Has it been cleaned?

Are all the vents on the laptop clear of any obstructions? Are you using a cooling pad of some sort?

No I did not remove the heat sink. It has never been removed that I'm aware of (I bought this machine used). I blew the dust out of the heat sink and fan and vents with a can of compressed aerosol duster (with the red straw attatched).
The fan works. I feel a fairly strong flow of hot air out of the vent grill (now ~ 128 degrees F / 53 degrees C - measured externally with a thermometer).

The intake and exhaust vent's are clean. I don't use a cooling pad but I do use a flat plastic panel when using the machine on my lap in order to provide air flow to the cooling fan intake grilles which are located on the bottom side... (why do they do that? Wouldn't fan intakes on the sides or rear be better for a machine designed to use on your lap?  ).

So should I remove the heatsink and re-apply thermal paste?

Thanks again,
Mike




[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[Transfusion]

Yes. I noticed that laptops don't use "thermal paste," they use this play-doh like substance that eventually dries up. Try applying some thermal paste. If you noticed a strong flow of hot air that's good. The fan is doing its job.

What temp is safe to run continuously? for a laptop I'd say around 67 C.

[lectrocrew]

Okay, I've got Rosewill RCX-TC001 thermal compound and Zalman ZM-STG1 thermal grease. The Rosewill compound is much thicker viscosity so I'll use it.
As I posted;

I feel a fairly strong flow of hot air out of the vent grill (now ~ 128 degrees F / 53 degrees C - measured externally with a thermometer).

.
Theres a big difference between 72 degrees C vs 53 degrees C, so maybe I do have an issue with heat transfer between the processor/heat sink.
I'll post the results after I get it done.
Thanks again Transfusion!

[lectrocrew]

I removed the fan and heatsink last night and cleaned the old thermal paste off of all surfaces. I also cleaned all the cooling circuit components again (fan, heat sink, grilles ect.) (I observed very little dust build-up since the last cleaning). The old thermal paste was not dried or hard. A new application of thermal paste made no difference in the temps as opposed to the previous Speedfan values. The fan exhaust is strong and hot so I'm confident the heat transfer is sufficient.
What now, run F@H at less than 100%?
I have a quad core desktop I intend to run F@H on, but it's loaned to my sister at this time until she buy's another PC. And she won't let me run F@H on it 24/7 at her house because of her utility bill. Family...  , but she sure can cook good so I don't want to rock the boat. 

[Transfusion]

I have a quad core desktop I intend to run F@H on, but it's loaned to my sister at this time until she buy's another PC. And she won't let me run F@H on it 24/7 at her house because of her utility bill. Family...  , but she sure can cook good so I don't want to rock the boat. 

Food...




I guess the only way to reduce temps would be underclocking/undervolting-from all the info we've gathered it probably is an inherent limitation in the design of your laptop HSF.   Try folding on the GPU-the CPU still has to handle your everyday tasks in addition to folding.

[lectrocrew]

The GPU on this machine isn't very impressive, ATI Radeon x1200 (specs attached). I don't need much graphics for what I do than playing a You Tube video occasionally.
If you suggest using the GPU, then what do I need to do to change my F@H settings to do so?
 or
Can I run both the CPU at a lower %, and also use the GPU, without facing the same overheating issue I have now?

[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[lectrocrew]

Food...

The image you posted does not show up for me. How do I open it?

[Transfusion]

The image you posted does not show up for me. How do I open it?

Oops, may have messed up the image URL.
Anyways...



Yes you can both run the CPU and the GPU clients together on 1 machine-however, in most laptops, there is only 1 HSF covering both the CPU and the GPU, so your overheating problems will be exacerbated. You can download the GPU client here:
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther
I would download the Windows: V6 GPU2 client because it is the latest version that supports ATI graphics. The X1600 is on par with the Radeon 4200 integrated graphics on the AMD 785G desktop chipset, so I'd say the X1200 is about equal to the Radeon 3000 integrated graphics on the AMD 760G desktop chipset. I have folded before on the Radeon 3000 without any chipset overheating issues, so I'd give your X1200 the all-clear to fold. Oh and one more thing-flash is CPU-intensive, not GPU-intensive.
(This applies to both of my computers) So I set my CPU SMP2 client to 92% CPU usage-If I set it to 99% the computer would be too slow for normal use. I then set my GPU client to 80% CPU usage-the GPU client does put a slight load on the CPU. If I set the GPU client to 90% CPU usage the computer would be too slow for normal use and both my GPU and CPU PPD would drop by 100~200 or so. I would suggest running only the GPU client on your computer, not both.

As you can see from my attached image, the GPU is much more stable than the CPU because the CPU still has to, well, run Windows and all the applications I have.

[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[lectrocrew]

YUM YUM!!! I love chocolate. 

I would download the Windows: V6 GPU2 client because it is the latest version that supports ATI graphics. The X1600 is on par with the Radeon 4200 integrated graphics on the AMD 785G desktop chipset, so I'd say the X1200 is about equal to the Radeon 3000 integrated graphics on the AMD 760G desktop chipset. I have folded before on the Radeon 3000 without any chipset overheating issues, so I'd give your X1200 the all-clear to fold. Oh and one more thing-flash is CPU-intensive, not GPU-intensive.

GPU2 won't install for my GPU. I get the dialog box attached below*
Can I install a standard client GPU version for my X1200 GPU, and continue to run my current version SMP2 on my CPU?


[regaining space - attachment deleted by admin]

[Transfusion]

There are 2 GPU clients-GPU2 and GPU3. GPU3 was developed for the nVidia Fermi core.
The requirements for GPU2 are:

Basic Requirements:

• 2xxx/3xxx/4xxx/5xxx ATI Video Card, or newer
• ATI Driver v8.1+, v8.3 or newer recommended, up to v9.2 (v9.3 not supported yet) (do not use OEM drivers)
• 5xxx - v9.10 driver or newer, MUST use -forcegpu ati_r700 switch (w/ v6.23)
• AGP GPU aperture size in the BIOS must be set to 128 MB or larger
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, with updates recommended
• Windows operating system, XP or newer

from http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ-ATI2

What's different between the GPU1 (first generation) and the GPU2 (second generation) client?
Scientifically, GPU2 introduces several new advances which makes it much more useful. It matches the advanced water models in the PS3 client and adds a new one (which will likely appear in a future PS3 client). These more advanced water models make this new GPU client very useful to us.
There are also many changes under the hood. The first generation client proved to be problematic due to GPU-specific issues and we've fixed all of them (as far as we can tell) in this second generation client. An important part of these fixes is using CAL (on ATI) and CUDA (on NVIDIA) instead of DirectX (the previous generation GPU client highlighted several issues with using DirectX). A major upside to using CAL and CUDA is that DirectX context switches no longer affect the client. Actions such as Fast-User switching, or locking your computer have no effect on GPU processing. Remote Desktop does still affect the GPU client and will cause the FahCore to fail when a connection is initiated. VNC does not have the same problem and can be used as an alternative.

Apparently the original GPU client has been retired. GPU2 requires at least a Radeon 2xxx to run... I'm sorry for totally barking up the wrong tree.
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2128&start=0
So we are now stuck with only folding on your CPU...

[lectrocrew]

Apparently the original GPU client has been retired. GPU2 requires at least a Radeon 2xxx to run... I'm sorry for totally barking up the wrong tree.
http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2128&start=0
So we are now stuck with only folding on your CPU...

No problem. 
I'll run the GPU2 client on my GTX 260 if I ever get that machine back from my sister. 

I do agree with what VMaxx posted (13th reply in the thread you linked)

Seems a shame to shoot the horse you rode in on

But I also understand what 7im posted:

GPU2 is much easier to run, more reliable scientifically, and has more advanced algorithms. Due to these differences, GPU1 has become obsolete.

Anyway, thanks again for your help Transfusion!