On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:53:21 -0300, Nicolas Alvarez wrote:

> Jim Henderson escribió:
>> On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 21:56:46 +0100, St. wrote:
>> 
>>>      I've even been *inside* the power supply and cleaned it out! Now
>>> there's a sight for sore eyes!
>>>
>>>        It's amazing how the dust builds up in there.
>> 
>> Yeah, it really is.  We've got three cats as well, so not only does
>> dust end up in there, but cat hair.  I need to replace a couple of the
>> fans, too - I've got three half-height 5.25" bays with bay fans in
>> them, and at least one of them has stopped working (the fans have
>> snapped off the motors).
>> 
>> Jim
> 
> Dust is a big problem for POVers. POV-Ray uses 100% CPU. More CPU usage
> = more computer heat. Dusty fan + POV-Ray = very hot CPU.

It does tend to drive the utilization up; in my particular case, the 
system isn't used for POV; but I've got a new dual-core Athlon system on 
its way next week, and I anticipate it being used for some more 
rendering.  I've not done much serious with POV since I had to give my 
dual-processor Dell system back to work (changed jobs and it was a lab 
machine that the department wanted back).  Pity, because I loaded it up 
with memory - it had 4 GB thanks to finding a very difficult-to-find 
memory expansion board.

But I miss that system.

> But then, I run BOINC too, so the CPU on my Pentium IV computer has been
> at 100% for around two years (not exactly continuously, uptime record is
> 27 days). I once cleaned it, then opened it three months later and it
> was all dusty again. >_> CPU reached 75°C sometimes (according to Intel
> it's the limit; knowing it was not surpassing the limit made me worry
> less).

That is quite warm, yeah.  My laptop has burned out a couple of times 
(but not due to CPU overutilization, more because of a faulty suspend 
that would put the fans to sleep but not the CPU or the video card).

Jim

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