Just got a watt meter and I was expecting the worst!

When I plugged in my laptop, running rosetta with the screen on brightest it uses about 43watts. With rosetta snoozed, I think it was 20 or so.
Testing my 933mhz computer, the difference is also about 20 watts. Need to test the main cruncher on my account though.

Incidentally, on a laptop (dell atleast), if you have a standard adapter (60 watts?), with the processor running at 100% the battery says it will take 2hrs or wtvr to charge. If its paused, it charges really fast. Perhaps boinc should put an option in global prefs "don't run while charging"

Just wanted to share with you that if ur running the computer anyway, it really might not be that much extra power to run rosetta :)

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You might want to check out a bit of software called RM Clock. I'll try and dig up a link if it doesn't google. It allows you to adjust the voltage of your laptop's cpu. My 1.7ghz Pentium M runs at 1.4ish volts from the factory. . with RM clock I'm able to run it at 1.05 volts even with rosetta going full blast. The laptop runs a lot cooler, and the battery lasts an extra 20-30 minutes.

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Instead of "dont crunch while charging", it would have to be "dont crunch if battery below =" and insert a value.

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You might want to check out a bit of software called RM Clock. I'll try and dig up a link if it doesn't google. It allows you to adjust the voltage of your laptop's cpu. My 1.7ghz Pentium M runs at 1.4ish volts from the factory. . with RM clock I'm able to run it at 1.05 volts even with rosetta going full blast. The laptop runs a lot cooler, and the battery lasts an extra 20-30 minutes.

It's a 933MHz computer so most likely an Intel Pentium III, these have limited powersaving (speedstep) features and the motherboard certainly wouldn't allow voltage changes. RM Clock isn't that useful for the older computers/laptops. For his Dell [url=http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/[/url]SpeedswitchXP & I8Kfangui[/url] would probably be better

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Team mauisun.org

You might want to check out a bit of software called RM Clock. I'll try and dig up a link if it doesn't google. It allows you to adjust the voltage of your laptop's cpu. My 1.7ghz Pentium M runs at 1.4ish volts from the factory. . with RM clock I'm able to run it at 1.05 volts even with rosetta going full blast. The laptop runs a lot cooler, and the battery lasts an extra 20-30 minutes.

Thanks for the lik Ethan! I've reduced the voltage on my Dell D610 using it from 1.325V down to 1.050V at 1.86GHz and something similar at the 800MHz. At the top end the temp has dropped from ~65ºC to ~43ºC! That, and the battery should last a fair bit longer.

nice one.

P.S. FC - I use I8kfangui, but I only use it for temp monitoring - I find it a bit awkward to use. Good for the temp though.

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Dell fan speed control can keep my Inspiron 8100 (1.2 GHz Intel P3m) running 24/7 at 48-50 C when crunching instead of 70+ C without the fan control. Tweaking is required and I don't recommended it for the mentally lazy.

Edit: Avi, look at your Rosetta@home General Preferences and set it to not run on batteries.

Processor usage

Do work while computer is running on batteries? no
(matters only for portable computers)

Alright, lets take a look!
2.93ghz intel celeron computer, 400watt or so powersupply, 3hd's, 17" Monitor is using 229 watts with Rosetta.
Snoozed, it uses 183 watts. Monitor and speakers off, 121.
so an extra 46 watts under load. Not too bad.


Put the Fan gui program on my laptop. Says the CPU is 150F degrees. So I figure the fan is running full? Nope, I clicked "enable fan forcing to highest speed" and I can hear it getting louder. CPU is now only 138F and the air coming out is nowhere near as hot as it used to be. Why doesn't the dell do this automatically?

Ill read up about that voltage switch later. Thanks!

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Why doesn't the dell do this automatically?

Noise. :-)

Why doesn't the dell do this automatically?

Noise. :-)

Heh, well with the air conditioner on across the room, I can't hear it. Might not need that laptop cooler after all. My main concern was the Hard drive, which I saw hit 110F. Its on the other side and doesn't seem to have its own fan...


Uhm, where are those voltage settings in Speedswitch? I set it to max performace when plugged in and dynamic when on battery.

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Might not need that laptop cooler after all.

I bought a LapCool2 for my granddaughter's ABS Mayhem G3 (Mobile AMD 64 Athlon 3200+) and determined that a pie rack works fine when sitting on a desk or table. The ABS is a bottom breather and the lapcool is necessary when using it in bed or on one's lap. My Dell Inspiron 8100 is a top breather.

You will find that your hard drive will run hottest when starting or defragmenting. Mine runs "Always on" and the HD is currently at 50 C (122 F).

I haven't tried Speedswitch.

Might not need that laptop cooler after all.

I bought a LapCool2 for my granddaughter's ABS Mayhem G3 (Mobile AMD 64 Athlon 3200+) and determined that a pie rack works fine when sitting on a desk or table. The ABS is a bottom breather and the lapcool is necessary when using it in bed or on one's lap. My Dell Inspiron 8100 is a top breather.

You will find that your hard drive will run hottest when starting or defragmenting. Mine runs "Always on" and the HD is currently at 50 C (122 F).

I haven't tried Speedswitch.

Well the e1405 has nice pads on the bottom. It seems fine on a table/desk.

Does having the Harddrive turn off after like 30 minutes.. help the life or heat or anything? I don't mind a 5 second delay when coming back to the laptop after a while if thats what it causes..

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Does having the Harddrive turn off after like 30 minutes.. help the life or heat or anything?

The HD doesn't generate any heat when not running, but I don't know how often Rosetta writes save points. I run continuously and it is better for reliability.

My laptop has been running a Windows Defender scan for the past 25 minutes and is now 68 C (154 F).

Does having the Harddrive turn off after like 30 minutes.. help the life or heat or anything?

The HD doesn't generate any heat when not running, but I don't know how often Rosetta writes save points. I run continuously and it is better for reliability.

My laptop has been running a Windows Defender scan for the past 25 minutes and is now 68 C (154 F).

Well then I hope the HD's are made for that!

With the fan all the way up on the dell e1405, it seems to stall every 20-30 seconds for half a second then start again. I suppose the fan isn't really made for that type of use?

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What stalls? The fans? My fans have been running flat out since last December.

HDs get hotter than 70 C without fan speed controls.

Here is my setup: http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2301/capture20082006023940ci4.png

Edit: I just Googled this information about your computer: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/e1405.ars. You can remove the PCMCIA blank to allow better air circulation, too. Nice computer. :-)

What stalls? The fans? My fans have been running flat out since last December.

HDs get hotter than 70 C without fan speed controls.

Here is my setup: http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2301/capture20082006023940ci4.png

Edit: I just Googled this information about your computer: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/e1405.ars. You can remove the PCMCIA blank to allow better air circulation, too. Nice computer. :-)

Hmm, I don't think I had seen that screen.

Yeah, the laptop is pretty nice :) Bit heavy to walk around with it open, though. Didn't know about that quick-boot media thing, but the buttons are really nice (theres a winamp plugin) and it comes incredibly fast out of hibernate (but starts up normally very slowly by comparison)
I took out the pcmcia and it looks like inside is pretty much closed. Ill see if that helps at all. Thanks!

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You'll not get the voltage options in Fangui/speedswitch. That'll be done automatically in the background.

RM CLock is the program you need for that but it's really for the modern CPU's, as most the older one's do not have the functionality in the motherboard.





As for temperature, I've had mine sat a 70degC for a long time (till I cleaned it out then it dropped. Mobile CPU tend to have a much higher thermal value. So don't be so worried about the temperatures.


Fan speed droppping, err there should be an option somwhere (yes I know there are lots of options)

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Team mauisun.org

FC, we switched computers in mid-stream. The Dell e1405 is a Yonah core.

FC, we switched computers in mid-stream. The Dell e1405 is a Yonah core.

Doh ! <slaps head>

:lol:

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Team mauisun.org

Fan speed droppping, err there should be an option somwhere (yes I know there are lots of options)

Hmm, I can see it reports it drops to "low" speed randomly. Its for .2 seconds, then goes back. Its set to "enable forcing to high speed" so its disabled all the other options. its happened right now at ~147F and the prefs for the CPU are at 140 and 158 or so, so that doesn't sound like it should affect it. It used to be once every 20 seconds, right now its every 5 seconds or so. Can someone figure this out please?

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When I posted this fan speed control screenshot http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/2301/capture20082006023940ci4.png I didn't know that your CPU has only one fan.

I believe that your fan is stopping because it reaches the "Turn off at ___" temperature. Naturally, a loaded processor heats quickly and causes the fan to come on again. My slow speed setting is 40 instead of 31 or 32 (half of the maximum 63) because slower speeds wouldn't cool as well. You can lower the slow speed temperature setting so that the fan cannot reach the turn off point and/or adjust the slow fan speed. The result will be that the fan will run slow or fast but never turn off when your processor is loaded 100%.

It is also distracting when a fan changes speed between slow and high frequently. If the noise on high speed bothers you, raise the CPU temperature threshold and let it run ~55 C. You can also increase the low speed to a bearable sound level.
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When I checked the Dell Inspiron 8100 (Intel P3m at 1.2 GHz) a few minutes ago it was crunching at 43 C and the hard dvive temperature was 34 C. How? It sits on a wire in/out basket placed over an air conditioning vent. :-D (My A/C circulating fan runs continuously.)