Asking the most of the processor. Is it bad?

I was wondering how bad is for the processor to work really hard. Sometimes I have it at 80% of its capacity for a couple of hours (of course the fan is going fast all the time), and I wonder if at that pace it might not last too long.
Any recommendation? Should I try to avoid being so hard with it? I guess I could run hard processes at night, when I'm not using other applications at the same time.
Thanks.

 

Don't worry about the load on the processor. A couple of hours is certainly not enough time for a processor to get to the point, where it could cause system instability. Just make sure it is colled well enough, and make sure its temperature doesn't reach to high a level.

 

This shouldn't be a problem I sometimes leave my notebook video editing and that causes my CPU to run at very high usage, if you are doing this make sure you fans aren't blocked by any debris(dust) use some compressed air to blow anything out. This will prevent any possible overheating because of blocked intake vents and allow you system to breathe. Also make sure you system is in a well ventilated room or perhaps you can look into getting a notebook cooler these measures should keep you notebook temps stable.

 

No problem. Just check your temps from time to time. If your ntoebook gets hotter than it used to then you should check her up. See if no air vents are clogged, your thermal paste didn;t age too much,...

 

Yeah like people said, you will be fine.

Remember, it's not the workload that kills a cpu, it's the heat.

So a cool running cpu that is maxed out at 100% will last a lot longer than a hot running cpu at 1%.

As long as the temps are ok, you're not doing any harm

 

I've had my CPU run at 100% for over 24 hours at a time before...there is nothing wrong with it. Just as previously said, make sure you do not run too hot. Preferably cooler than 70C, and definitely not over 80C.

 

The CPU is made to work. There are no moving parts, so it doesn't really get worn as such. All you have to keep in mind is that if it overheats, it might get damaged. But that should never happen unless your CPU fan dies or you didn't attach the heatsink correctly.

I used to run my old CPU at 100% for months at a time. (running Folding@Home)

 

doesn't today's CPU all have throttling feature(clock down and eventually shutdown) which prevents them from overheating ?

 

Don't think of it in mechanical terms. A processor is not like a car engine. It is basically taking in a very low voltage of electrical energy running through it. No damage can actually occur to a processor, unless it is shorted by static shock, physically crushed, or extremely overheated. So make sure it is in a safe, well venetalted area, and make sure it is cooled very well. A processor is microscpoic to say the least, so you will not see the kind of damage you might be thinking of. I still have a working Intel 486, Intel Pentium and Intel a bunch of Intel Pentium 3's, and I am an overclocker, to say the least.

 

CPUIdle Extreme can be configured to automatically reduce CPU usage (by requesting CPU time and sending HALT instructions)* once the CPU's temperature goes over an adjustable threshold. It communicates with Motherboard Monitor to get the sensor data.

Basically, with a properly cooled computer, there are simply no worries to have about using CPUs at 100% of their capacity. (I have done it a few times during whole weeks.... batch rendering audio / video / 3D stuff)

CPUIdle or a similar utility is just that little addition that gives peace of mind, and additionnal security in case of an unstable (temperature-wise), badly cooled PC.



* This feature of CPUIdle makes it looks as if the CPU is constantly at 100% usage. It is not, obviously, but I have noticed that this can confuse some other programs that reduce their algorithms' complexity based on CPU usage... For example, some video codecs gradually turn deblocking off when CPU usage gets close to 100%, to make sure that you can at least 30 fps. Should this happen, you can manually configure them, or temporarily disable CPUIdle via the tray icon.

 

P4's would do that already (anyone know if Core 2 has the same feature?)

And every CPU on the market shuts down *before* overheating, so you're pretty much safe no matter what.

 

I think that it'd be a nice idea to constantly monitor your cpu temperature. You could always use a program like cpu fan and check it out every once in a while. I wouldn't be too worried though - most of the cpus out there shut down when they overheat - it's like a protection mechanism.

 

Before I had CPUIdle, my processor (Willamette desktop P4), when overheating, would either shut down or reboot (I don't remember). But I do remember, once, after manually rebooting, seeing CPU Overheating during POST... lol

That's why I got CPUIdle. I'm happy with it 'cause I can set the temperature limit I like... and my PC keeps running. I don't really care about the loss in performance. This PC's 256 megs of RAM and GeForce 3 no longer do the job anyways ...

 

How intensive is that?

 

Folding@Home is fairly intensive.

I run F@H 24/7 on my quad-core desktop system and the CPU temps average about 60C. If I were to run something like Orthos in small FFT mode, which works the CPU pretty much to the max, temps are about 65C. It would be a bit cooler if I did not overclock the system, stock is 2.4GHz, currently running at 3GHz.

Orthos is used by a lot of people to test system stability. But I have to point out that sometimes even if a system is Orthos stable it may not be F@H stable. F@H uses SSE instructions and those SSE registers are supposedly more sensitive to overclocking.