Folding Forum

Hello, everyone! I'm a new donor to Folding@home. I just started folding and everything is going fine, but I have a question. I have a laptop, and I set the folding power to high as my laptop is a gaming laptop (But I quit gaming). I was just wondering if folding with my laptop would affect the life of the components in my laptop. My laptop is an Alienware 17 (2014).

Specs:
CPU: Intel i7 4710MQ @ 3.5GHz (Not Overclocked)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 880M with 8GB VRAM (Not Overclocked)
Storage: Samsung 850 PRO

It mainly depends on how hot the laptop gets when the GPU and/or CPU are at full load. Most consumer-grade laptops will have difficulty keeping temps under control with full-time, full-load computing. Since a "gaming" laptop SHOULD be equipped for prolonged full GPU loads, it may work for you. FWIW, my Lenovo Folded (CPU only) for 5+ years before it was unable to keep the temps down. Even after opening it up and cleaning out the dust, the CPU temps still spiked too often...

I would first try a GPU slot, and see how it runs. If the temps are good, try adding a CPU slot. You could reverse it, trying the CPU slot first, but the GPU slot will likely make more points.

As JR Weiss says it will depend on the laptop, I have laptops that have folded for 5 years, smoothly, but some laptops have issues with over heating.
Keep tabs on it in the summer, the environment is hotter.