I noticed that when running Rosetta@home the temperature of my CPU increases from 38C to 49C and the cooling fan also works much harder. CPU usage goes from 8% to 100%. Can this destroy my PC?

thanks

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The CPU usage going to 100% is normal. The legal disclaimers when you sign up point out that anything that uses your CPU heavily can cause your computer to overheat, and that UCB and UW are not responsible for any damage.

That said, 49C is not "too hot" for most systems; mine has plenty of cooling and runs around 43-47C depending on room temp. Your computers are hidden (there's no reason to hide them, imho...) so I can't tell what it is, etc., to be able to tell you any more than this.

You definitely need to keep it "clean" though - blow/vacuum out any dust, etc. around the heat sinks. That may let your fan ease off a bit. If you're on Windows, you might also look for "threadmaster", and limit BOINC in how much CPU it can have, backing it off until you feel safe.

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Usually a motherboard that is intelligent enough to vary the fan speed will cut off the cpu before it gets fried - butas Bill noted there is no comeback to the project or to BOINC is this does not happen. Personally if the board was still in warranty I'd be asking for a new cpu from the supplier but that depends on your contract with them.

Do you have the ability to turn the fan onto full? (it may be a BIOS setting)

If so, turn it up to full to learn what it sounds like. Then turn it back to automatic, and if it is running slower than full-on I'd say your motherboard is content with the result.

Secondly, do you have any words on your cpu that advise a max running temp for it?

Of course the one component that will wear out sooner is the fan. Most systems built to a budget have fans that will run forever at normal speed but might not do so flat out. That (as well as the noise) is a good reason not to leave the fan on full all the time.

River~~

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PS - you might also be interested in this posting - it's about a laptop but the kinds of temperature the cpu can take tend to be similar for laptops and desktops.

Technicaly anythign you do on you computer can posibly damage your computer


In the long run your harddrive may have problems sooner do to increased usage

it should not effect your usage of other tasks. I run Worlds or Warcraft and it dosnt slow the game down while i am running it.

yes you should clean your computers now and then

also if there is a flaw in the manufacture of your computer you will probaly discover it quicker (and hopefully while still under warenty)

Personaly I have run distributed computing projects on 12 difrent machines in the past um 10 years and i expect my computers fail about 1 year earlier but you have to realize by the time they fail they are also normaly so outdated it dosnt matter .. curently i am running 6 machines 24/7 and they have been running this way for up to 4 years.

oh i have also had 2 hard drives fail the past 10 years also (1 of them 5 days after i bought it so was a manufactur defect)

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Marios
Are you still with up? Just checked your stats and looks like you are slowing down.

Running this should not harm your system but things above do apply, keep the system clean, ect. Too little memory can cause it to use the swap file on the hard drive wareing it out. Many people running Rosetta have less than the recommended 512 megs, but all on Rosetta should have 512 or more. Less memory is used for other programs.

Ray

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Pizza@Home Rays Place Rays place Forums

Marios
Are you still with up? Just checked your stats and looks like you are slowing down.

Running this should not harm your system but things above do apply, keep the system clean, ect. Too little memory can cause it to use the swap file on the hard drive wareing it out. Many people running Rosetta have less than the recommended 512 megs, but all on Rosetta should have 512 or more. Less memory is used for other programs.

Ray

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Pizza@Home Rays Place Rays place Forums

I noticed that when running Rosetta@home the temperature of my CPU increases from 38C to 49C and the cooling fan also works much harder. CPU usage goes from 8% to 100%. Can this destroy my PC?

thanks

no, my computer, being a 1.3, runs around 7-15% and with rosetta, runs at 100, but 10 degrees hotter wont do anything. the fans are nearly invincible and the processor should last you well past when you need a new computer. 49C is not a dangerous tempature for a processor to run at, just a little warm. my p1 ran at 55-65C and it has been for 10 years, and has not fried yet. it got this hot since there was no cooling fan on it. you're computer wont have any problems, i assure you.

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I noticed that when running Rosetta@home the temperature of my CPU increases from 38C to 49C and the cooling fan also works much harder. CPU usage goes from 8% to 100%. Can this destroy my PC?

thanks

no, my computer, being a 1.3, runs around 7-15% and with rosetta, runs at 100, but 10 degrees hotter wont do anything. the fans are nearly invincible and the processor should last you well past when you need a new computer. 49C is not a dangerous tempature for a processor to run at, just a little warm. my p1 ran at 55-65C and it has been for 10 years, and has not fried yet. it got this hot since there is no cooling fan on it. you're computer wont have any problems, i assure you.

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I noticed that when running Rosetta@home the temperature of my CPU increases from 38C to 49C and the cooling fan also works much harder. CPU usage goes from 8% to 100%. Can this destroy my PC?

One guideline that we used to follow before CPUs could measure their own tempartaure, was that no point on the heatsink should go over 60deg. Clearly the cpu itself would be hotter than this - maybe over 100.

At any rate, a temp of 49C on the heatsink would still have 11deg slack on the old rule of thumb, let alone a temp of 49 at the silicon itself.

For an authoritative max temp for your cpu, ask the supplier of the computer (if you bought it complete) or of the motherboard (if you built the computer yourself). If they don't know, they should be able to find out. They should be able to tell you at what temparature the cpu will shutdown for its own safety, and perhaps some other guideline temperatures. Talk to the technical department, not the sales line! My guess (without warranty!) is that this will be in the region of 90deg.

The fan is running faster - that is good, it shows your motherboard is in control of the situation. It does mean that the fan might wear out sooner than if you did not run BOINC, as with all moving parts the faster it runs the faster it wears. The cost of the extra power used is far more than the potential cost of replacing a fan in a year or two's time, so I would not worry about that.

If a fan starts to rattle, replace it before it fails totally (applies equally to power supply fans, case fans, cpu fans, and gpu fans).

hope that helps
River~~

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