Yes, the i5 is brand new, the other machine is three years old. So, what is the wisdom on putting up laptops to closer to 100% than the default 60%.

Whilst I use Threadmaster-GUI myself, works also quite nicely on W7-32 + 64 bit, it is slightly involved, one having to update the process control table with each science version. All sciences forgotten to add only get default 25% CPU time, unless one ups that value.

The better solution for Windows Laptops in particular running W2K or XP and up is TTHrottle specially written for BOINC. Long there has been a thread in the chat room that occasionally gets bumped when there's an update. Just set target max temp for CPU or GPU or both and the amount of time is controlled dynamically... a superior job slowing tool to what BOINC is able to do itself.

Just to be more comprehensive:

Win7 is a newer operating system than Vista. Get 64bit Win7 if possible as it is generally slightly faster and slightly faster for crunching too.

A Core 2 Duo T7200 is slower, noisier, runs hotter and only has 2 threads.
The i5-520M uses 4 threads, uses less electric, is cooler and does much more work.

4 gigs DDR2 SDRAM at 667Mhz are slower, use more electric and produce more heat.

The 4gigs DDR3 dual channel DRAM at 1066Mhz would be faster, cooler and use less electric.


As for overheating - Both have a TDP of 35W, but I think it is less likely to be an issue on the i5-520M. That said it does have Turbo mode, where the speed can rise from 2.4GHz to 2.9GHz. As long as people dont do daft things like leave it on a bed or sofa (where the fans can't draw air in) the laptop will be able to look after itself. If you live somewhere particularly hot, or you overclock it heating can be an issue. Other than that it is just the noise you have to put up with. If it's a problem, as well as the above suggestions, you could also use the power options on Win7 to reduce the core speeds, just use 3 threads, or set it to use 90% of the CPU (it pauses every few seconds allowing it to cool) - this would be my least favourite method.

mitrichr, the advice in this thread is for everyone to read.

I have overclocked my i5-750 with the stock Intel heatsink and raised the CPU speed to 3.15Ghz and 80% processor usage but it "boinc'ed" and started whinging. I have had to drop it down to 65% usage but doing some simple sums, I might be better dropping the CPU speed to 3Ghz and increasing the %CPU usage.