CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
I've overclocked my 3.2Ghz to 3.68Ghz with proper but extremely loud CPU fan. [1]. My goal is to lever let my heatsink temp. exceed 53 celsius [2]. It idles at 36C. Ordinary load generates temps in the low 40s: disk and network load - not much, bzipping tar etc. - relatively more. Heavy load (kernel compiles and OpenGL) generates the real heat. Long story short: Fan very loud - heavy load @ 50C, fan reasonably loud - heavy load @ 52C, fan quite quiet - heavy load @ 54C-55C. Low temps can be maintained equally at all these volume levels [3]. I can sleep near a quiet PC and be confident that it will never go above the mid-40s as long as heavy loads aren't unexpectedly generated. xscreensaver-gl is the first to go. I really need to know: what sorts of tasks could just run by themselves that would likely lead to heavy CPU loads? (aside from the obvious like [EMAIL PROTECTED]) The tantalzing aspect is the difference between very quiet and reasonably quiet : both do typical just sit there tasks cool, but the tradeoff is equalling vs. slightly exceeding a safety margin vs. a noticeable decrease in sound. [1] 230 mhz bus, 14% increase. Kernel compile time went from 6:11 to 5:20, a 14% increase. It's worth the trouble. I've done extensive burn-in testing: it's stable at 3.76 (235 mhz) in Windows but Linux will either (1) kernel panic at 1.75 volts or (2) issue thermal_interrupts at 1.775 volts. I have been very dilligent and done *a lot* of testing, so I believe I've done it safely. I intend to switch to water-cooling to get it to 4Ghz if I can find a company who will install it for me, and I've done sufficient research to feel comfortable about that: it's easy for the coolant to leak. [2] 53C will be reported on the heatsink edge when 61C is reported by the CPU core to the bios. The difference is less at lower temps. The system is rated to 69C: 60C is the default alarm level for Asus's Windows utilities. [3] But not turned down all the way (1300 RPMs): it will then idle *very hot* e.g. 56C. 3000-4000 RPMs is pretty quiet. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 01:11:04AM -0800, Nano Nano wrote: xscreensaver-gl is the first to go. I really need to know: what sorts of tasks could just run by themselves that would likely lead to heavy CPU loads? (aside from the obvious like [EMAIL PROTECTED]) In my effort to be brief, I forgot to say that I will only keep the fan running quietly while I sleep: I will of course be doing CPU-intensive tasks while I'm using it, and will turn the fan up. I just want to be able to sleep without worrying that it's going to go haywire on its own. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 01:11:04AM -0800, Nano Nano wrote: [1] 230 mhz bus, 14% increase. Kernel compile time went from 6:11 to 5:20, a 14% increase. It's worth the trouble. A separate subthread to preemptively answer the nay-sayers: I benchmarked it non-overclocked vs. overclocked with the fan at full speed (6400 RPMs): 45C (std) vs. 50C (clocked). I didn't measure temps with under load with the stock fan (wish I had), but I expect it was something like 48C (instead of the ~52C I get overclocked at reasonably loud ~ 4000RPM) speeds. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Die, 2004-02-17 at 10:11, Nano Nano wrote: I've overclocked my 3.2Ghz to 3.68Ghz with proper but extremely loud CPU fan. [1]. My goal is to lever let my heatsink temp. exceed 53 celsius [2]. [...] I can sleep near a quiet PC and be confident that it will never go above the mid-40s as long as heavy loads aren't unexpectedly generated. As for 'unexpected' tasks, look at /etc/cron.* (daily, monthly, etc). Alternative solutions: As I understand it, you sleep almost on top of the machine and want it to keep running 24/7. Why you want to do this is none of my business, but apparently you won't do much number-crunching. Plan A: the return of the Turbo switch -- I don't know if this works on modern hardware, but if you've got jumpers for the system clock, it may be an option to connect them to a switch on the case front. From my experience, this won't fry any chips. At worst, the system hangs. Plan B: get a 'dedicated server' -- as CPU load doesn't seem to be an issue, any old box will do. Many modern heatsinks still fit on a socket7, I've got a P133 running without fan that way. This will likely draw more costs, however, for more RAM and a big heatsink and network and whatnot, and might lead you into trouble when you want a newer (big and silent) disk. When I was satisfied with my old Pentium box, I had spent enough money that I could have picked one of these VIA Epia boards right from the start. cu, Schnobs -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 02:31:35PM +0100, Christian Schnobrich wrote: As for 'unexpected' tasks, look at /etc/cron.* (daily, monthly, etc). Will do. As I understand it, you sleep almost on top of the machine and want it to keep running 24/7. Why you want to do this is none of my business, but apparently you won't do much number-crunching. Heh, fair enough zinger. However I don't think you appreciate how loud one of these overclocker's fans (Thermaltake Xaser Spark 7) @ 6400 RPMs actually is: imagine a hairdryer. Just sleeping in the same room (even on the other side of the room is difficult). I've figured out what to do: I enabled cpufreq/p4-clockmod and enabled the powersave governor, like for laptops. I underclock the overclocked machine while I sleep. Now I can turn the fan down to quite quiet (3000 RPMs) and compile hte kernel at 46C (before it was 55C). So I can sleep peacefully. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tuesday 17 February 2004 15:43, Nano Nano wrote: Now I can turn the fan down to quite quiet (3000 RPMs) and compile hte kernel at 46C (before it was 55C). So I can sleep peacefully. I don't know what Pentium4 chips are rated to run at, but I think you might be over paranoid about the temperature. The P4 does have thermal throttling built in, so even if a power hungry process does fire itself up misteriuosly while you're dead to the world, the cpu won't fry. As a loose and almost irrelevant comparison, my AthlonXP 1800+ (Palomino core) runs at around 55 centigrade at idle. Something like setiathome bumps this to between 60 and 70 degrees, depending on the room temperature, and it runs perfectly stable: 15:20:06 up 85 days, 16 min. Heatsink/fan is not quite one of the hardcore overclocker models, but it sounds about like a vacuum cleaner with the box open, so I can relate. So my guess is you can safely leave it with the fan turning slowly and it'll survive the odd spike. One thing I do when I have have to leave the computer on while I sleep, is to put a pillow on top of the case - it absorbs a lot of sound. -- Kind regards Hans du Plooy hansdp at newingtoncs dot co dot za -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tue, 2004-02-17 at 04:11, Nano Nano wrote: I've overclocked my 3.2Ghz to 3.68Ghz with proper but extremely loud CPU fan. [1]. My goal is to lever let my heatsink temp. exceed 53 celsius [2]. Cool. [1] 230 mhz bus, 14% increase. Kernel compile time went from 6:11 to 5:20, a 14% increase. It's worth the trouble. I've done extensive burn-in testing: it's stable at 3.76 (235 mhz) in Windows but Linux will either (1) kernel panic at 1.75 volts or (2) issue thermal_interrupts at 1.775 volts. I have been very dilligent and done *a lot* of testing, so I believe I've done it safely. I intend to switch to water-cooling to get it to 4Ghz if I can find a company who will install it for me, and I've done sufficient research to feel comfortable about that: it's easy for the coolant to leak. [2] 53C will be reported on the heatsink edge when 61C is reported by the CPU core to the bios. The difference is less at lower temps. The system is rated to 69C: 60C is the default alarm level for Asus's Windows utilities. [3] But not turned down all the way (1300 RPMs): it will then idle *very hot* e.g. 56C. 3000-4000 RPMs is pretty quiet. Or you can do like I have done... Get a 120MM Thermistor controlled variable speed fan. I have one (from an Industrial Controls dealer) that works well. I just had to fabricate a good mount for the extra weight of the fan and a good duct to funnel all the air from the 120mm fan onto the 60mm mounting location. At this point, the Northbridge Fan is louder than the CPU fan even at HIGH LOADS. Not to mention the Video card Fan. I am going to change those to thermally controlled fans soon (probably larger ones as well) and I also have a gang of four fans in the front of the case and 2 fans in the back of the case. I also have replaced the fans in the Power Supply to be thermally controlled as well. Even with 1 - 120mm and 8 - 80mm fans blowing... the Northbridge and Video card fans are the ones I hear. You can get the 80mm fans from Newegg.com by Cooler Master for $6 each if you order 10 and get free shipping that way too. I have a big breeze coming out of my current rig... but with very little fan noise. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] REMEMBER ED CURRY! http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry Novell's Directory Services is a competitive product to Microsoft's Active Directory in much the same way that the Saturn V is a competitive product to those dinky little model rockets that kids light off down at the playfield. -- Thane Walkup signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
Nano Nano wrote: [1] 230 mhz bus, 14% increase. Kernel compile time went from 6:11 to 5:20, a 14% increase. It's worth the trouble. So, you have a 14% performance boost, but you can only use it 75% of the time. 1.14*0.75=86%... signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: CPU-intensive periodic processes, e.g. xscreensaver-gl
On Tue, Feb 17, 2004 at 01:11:04AM -0800, Nano Nano wrote: [2] 53C will be reported on the heatsink edge when 61C is reported by the CPU core to the bios. The difference is less at lower temps. ...as one would expect. Suggest that using the CPU core sensor would be a better idea than the heatsink sensor. (Class-B amplifier designers wish that output transistors had on-chip temp sensors...) -- Pigeon Be kind to pigeons Get my GPG key here: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=getsearch=0x21C61F7F pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature
