Folding Forum

Hello, I'm a brand new user/donor who is not a computer expert.

I believe I have successfully downloaded, installed and run F@H version 7.4.4. The program is in the middle of its first work unit (13%) and things seem to be running correctly. However, I noticed that my laptop's fan was running very fast. According to a program I downloaded called Open Hardware Monitor, my CPU is running at ~90C. If I pause F@H, the temperature decreases to 50-60C within a minute or two and the fan slows to what I would call "normal." My question is: Is it okay to run at this temperature for extended periods? Can I change some setting to make things run cooler?
One bit of additional info: Using the advanced control tool I changed the CPU "slot" value from -1 to 1. This decreased my CPU usage from 50% to 25%, but did not seem to affect the temperature. Also, my computer is well ventilated as far as I can tell (about an inch in the air, with all vents clear).

Computer Specs: Intel Core i5-2450M (2.5GHz), 6 GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 3000.
Network Connection: Cable internet
Operating System: Windows 7, Service pack 1 64 bit (it should be fully updated).
Overclocked?: not sure what this means, gonna go with "no."
Stable?: Nothing is crashing.
Software: version 7.4.4

Thanks, I am very excited to contribute to this program if I can.

Welcome to the folding@home support forum hsp.

A good laptop is designed to withstand high temperatures when under a heavy load. Your CPU should be fine as long as it's below 100C according to it's specs. Regularly cleaning out the vents and monitoring temperatures should keep your CPU safe.

You can safely return the CPU slot back to 2 or -1 if you wish and that should increase your Points Per Day and decrease the return time. You can further increase your PPD by using a Passkey if you don't already have one.

Okay, great. Thank you. I'm back at -1 and have entered my passkey.

hsp wrote:This decreased my CPU usage from 50% to 25%, but did not seem to affect the temperature. Also, my computer is well ventilated as far as I can tell (about an inch in the air, with all vents clear).

Welcome to foldingforum.org, hsp.

Just a couple more things you might want to consider:

Reducing the CPU usage from 50% to 25% should either reduce the temperature or simply reduce the amount of air that the fan needs to move, making things a bit quieter (if that happens to matter to you). It will also save battery if that happens to be a consideration or folding may simply suspend itself when running on battery. (That's a setting you can adjust.)

A laptop that's about an inch in the air is an important idea. Be careful if you need to use your laptop elsewhere (where the cooling may not be as effective), You'll have to decide if a temporary change in CPU-count is a good idea.

Reducing the CPU usage from 50% to 25% should either reduce the temperature or simply reduce the amount of air that the fan needs to move, making things a bit quieter (if that happens to matter to you).

That's what I was expecting. It did not seem to make a difference though. Thoughts?

hsp wrote:

Reducing the CPU usage from 50% to 25% should either reduce the temperature or simply reduce the amount of air that the fan needs to move, making things a bit quieter (if that happens to matter to you).

That's what I was expecting. It did not seem to make a difference though. Thoughts?

I'm guessing here, but Speedstep may be entering the discussion. Your system can automatically increase or decrease the clock rates so that one CPU might produce the same amount of work as two CPUs based on the same thermal limitations. Let it run in each configuration until several percent of progress have been produced. Compare the progress per unit time while running the same WU.

Okay, things seem to be behaving better today. I did as you suggested. On the same work unit and over 4% progress:
1 thread (25% CPU) produced 0.105% progress per minute and a temperature of 75-80C
2 threads (50% CPU) produced 0.163% progress per minute and a temperature of ~90C (and higher fan speed). For now, I think I'll limit things to 1 thread.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I'm happy to report that I'm at 35% on my first WU