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Control the percent of CPU power used

A CPU at max speed is not always too good for the PC health.

If one was able to set the max CPU usage to fx 25% then the
system would never get particularly hot. Not all prople have a
high-end case system. Harddisks could get very warm too.

Then you could actually keep the program running ALL THE TIME
instead of just as a screen saver or at certain time intervals.

That would encourage a MUCH MORE donation of CPU power,
beacuse people would not worry about the PC health or exhaustion
of resources.

Technicalities:
This could probably be done by incorporating a timer into the program
that does one calculation at certain intervals. The average CPU usage
could then be controlled.
[Nov 18, 2004 12:58:45 PM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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tongue Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

that's right,but why the administrator doesn't reply ?
[Nov 18, 2004 3:25:46 PM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

I agree - that is not a good thing to run all the time. What about setting the priority on the process, to a lower priority. Would that work also? I imagine that could be done by the installer program, but do not know for sure. It could also be part of the settings, and program would convert user's percentage number to a priority setting.
[Nov 19, 2004 7:12:26 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

I also share the same concern about 100% CPU usage. From what I checked on my PC, and what I have read is that when you check task bar, the process is at low priority. Not sure if that makes any difference though.
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

Yes, the "Rosetta" process is at low priority, but that only means that other processes have a higher priority. When no other processes require CPU power, the Rosetta process uses 100% again.
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

and that means, 80-90% all the time when you are working, and more when you're not working (on my computer; Pentium 4 2.4 GHz).

Luckily, I have a well cooled case, so the temperature almost doesn't rise on other components than the CPU, but I am concerned about my home computer (don't do this at home *LOL*)
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

Control of CPU use would be nice but mainly for those who have noisy fans. otherwise if your computer can't handle it you ought to look at a new computer,

Re overheating, cpu usage etc.

I’m not a computer engineer but I have done a fair amount of computer troubleshooting as well as repairs on other electronic products using similar technology.

The heat question is real but is not a problem for any well designed system, here are a few observations.

CPU’s and other electronics are designed with a normal operating temperature range in mind. This temperature is not room temperature but significantly above it, in fact the difference between idle and max is only a few degrees. The fan in the computer maintains this temperature by varying its speed just as your car maintains its engine temperature. So long as you stay within the design limits of the system, the fan will maintain the appropriate temperature. The design limits have to include 100% operation as this is in fact what really determines the design limit. The reason a processor is rated at a given speed is largely because that is the maximum speed at which it can dissipate heat reliably. Most if not all current processors could be run at a higher speed if you could remove heat fast enough. You overclockers out there know what I mean since that is the first thing you do. Also, this is why , in the past it was recommended that you leave your computer on all the time as systems are more reliable if maintained in a narrow temperature range and the worst thing you can do is turn them on and off.

Secondly,a well designed system would have a safety system which only kicks in when the design parameters have been exceeded. This is a failsafe that will shut the system down before it can harm itself or you. Every home heating system has one, it is called an overtemp sensor and it is there to protect the system and to protect you, and it is mandated by law. Generally you cannot sell anything in the US or most other countries if it does not have this protection. That is what all those approvals are for.

Thirdly, as to the peripheral wear, ie hard drives etc. I opened up the performance monitor on my computer and confirmed my suspicion that the actual amount of disk access is significantly less than what I normally do just surfing the web. In fact, since disk access is a very slow process, I suspect the program is optimized to avoid it. My commit charge is almost exactly my physical ram which is rarely the case, this indicates that the program is not using virtual memory and is avoiding excess disk operations.

All that being said, the comments about the noise from the fan are real and legitimate. The fan that cools the cpu will probably not last as long as the cpu itself and wasn’t really designed to. The fans are however, cheap (maybe $ 25 for a desktop) and the failsafes should be designed to handle a failed fan since that is the most likely situation they will ever see. Also, I hated the fan on my laptop and I would like to see a speed slider so that I could slow the program down.

Finally, this type of computing is not really all that new. The original distributed systems were done with 286’s, 386’s and anything else that could be had for cheap. If there was a speed reliability issue, it probably would have been dealt with by now.
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

A CPU at max speed is not always too good for the PC health.

If one was able to set the max CPU usage to fx 25% then the
system would never get particularly hot. Not all prople have a
high-end case system. Harddisks could get very warm too.
I doubt the WCG app uses that much of hard disk. Well, it could be a problem if you have a Maxtor.. wink

Heat shouldn't be a problem if the cpu is installed correctly and complies with the cpu manufacturer's thermal solution guidelines.
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

In my eyes are the boxed coolers always good enough to keep your system cool even when it is stressed. Maybe it will make a little more noise but thats it. Don't forget that intel has this feature that when you cpu is getting overheated it will automaticly clock itself back to a lower clockspeed. I've seen a test of it and it works :). They removed the fan and heatsink of the cpu and it didn't fire up.
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Re: Control the percent of CPU power used

For what it's worth, my cpu temp [as measured by MotherBoard Monitor] sits between 55 C and 59 C with the grid client running. The system's normal range is 42 to 43 C. This is well within the max operating temp of 80 C. CPU is an Athlon XP 3200 in a home built box. The fan is not controlled by any temp.
[Nov 21, 2004 2:40:09 PM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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