On Sep 6, 11:22 pm, Paul wrote:
wrote:
Original post athttp://tinyurl.com/2auzb7
Here is update on my desktop:
I think I mentioned about the two case fans whose wire were cut - my
guess was that my nephew got annoyed with the noise (this was his PC)
and cut it instead of pulling the electrical connection. I tried to
fix the connect but my razor cut through the wire and so I left it
alone.
Then, I stopped by at Fry's yesterday and talked with one of the guys
who worked in the area where people bring their PC and get it checked.
(I know him well as over the past 1-1 1/2 year; he is the best there.)
He didn't think I should replace the thermal. So I asked him whether
he could check it if I bring in and he was cool about it and there was
no customer either - lucky me. Since I live really close to Fry's, I
took it there and this is what he did:
He did the memory test but he replaced the heatsink fan first cus the
fan's bearings were lose. I did notice the noise when it started
happening a while back and in fact posted about it in a ng. People
acted like no big deal and so I just ear plug most of the time. He
also reconnected the wires that were cut for the 2 case fans. He's
got the right tool to saw off the case of the wire.
I have had the desktop on since this morning around 9 am, I think.
First I left the case open but then closed it around 12. It's 7:22 PM
and no problem so far.
He did say if it shuts down, motherboard could be going bad.
I hope this desktop lasts another year or so cus I put some money for
the memory last year buying it at Fry's paying expensive price. I
wanted to be able to return easily and hence didn't buy it online.
I have always left my desktop on in the past; Should I leave the
desktop off at night when going to bed except on the night that I have
anti-virus check scheduled? How much energy does it consume?
The computer could draw 150W. It really depends on how fancy the computer
is. If you want a real answer, there is a device called a "Kill-A-Watt"
meter, that can measure power consumption for you.
Usually, when I am done using it, I close all application. I am not
into gaming at all. And my monitor is 19 " LCD Dell 1905 FP; I had a
17 " Trinitron till 2 1/2 years ago that I bought with Dell system in
2001. I don't use that system but let others use it. When not in use,
it is hut down.
If you had a gaming
rig, with a couple high end video cards, the idle power will go up
from that estimate. (And if you use a CRT monitor, that is also a large
consumer. My old Trinitron used to use 200W, before replacing it with a
36W max, 17" LCD monitor. Bigger LCDs can be quite greedy, because of
all the extra backlights inside them.)
http://www.amazon.com/P3-Internation...-Monitor/dp/B0...
I look at it last night. Will try using that later.
So say, for the purpose of using round numbers, that the thing drew 200W.
Say your electricity is $0.08 per KWH. It would take 5 hours at 200W,
to use one Kilowatt*Hour. So 5 hours costs $0.08, a day is roughly $0.40,
and a year is say $140.00 . And depending on the external temperature
outside your dwelling, you may be paying air conditioning fees as well,
to get rid of that heat. In winter, the extra heat is a bonus.
Good info. I'll soon be moving to live with a roommate and my pc will
be in my bed room in coming winter.
By the way, your test technique needs a small tweak. To test thermal
problems, you want the computer to be "computing like crazy". Programs
like CPUBurn or Prime95 or Orthos, push the CPU to 100%, and make it
operate as hot as possible. That is the test condition you want, to
guarantee stability.
I downloaded Prime95 - version 24.14 - and installed it last night. A
while ago, when I came to look at at, the moment I hit a key to
activate the screen, the computer went blank shwoing windows
screensvaer background after shwoing the icosn for a slipt second. I
waited but nothing happned and so I shut it down cold. As the shutting
down process started, I clicked on the icon for Prime95 in systray and
opened it. I saw Prime95 window. Under Option menu, Torture test was
deactivated. I chose CPU. As I was going to copy the info, the shut
down process interrupted it.
I restarted the computer and am running Prime95 again. So far it shows
Mersenne number primarity test program version 24.14.
Resuming primality test of M19626973 at iteration 118307 [0.06%]
[Sep 07 06:15] Ietration:120000 / 19626973 [0.61%]. Per iteration
time: 0.194 sec.
[Sep 07 06:15] Ietration:120000 / 19626973 [0.66%]. Per iteration
time: 0.126 sec.
Under Option, I couldn't select "Torture test" cus it's deactivated/
deactiavted (don't know what the right term is).
Here is CPU setting info - all this are default:
Hours per day this program will run: 24
Daytime available memory setting (in MB):8
Nihgttime available memory setting (in MB):8
Daytime begins: 7:30 AM ends: 11:30PM
My memory is 1GB. After reading the read me file just now, I re-
installed Prime95 joining GMIP (I think) and I set Day time memory to
256 and Night time to 512. Is this advisable?
It's 7:24 AM now.
If the CPU is stable when running at 100% load, then
it will also be stable at idle. But not vice-versa.
Did the fact that the screen went blank when I came to use the desktop
mean that CPU was too loaded? It was only 8MB for both day and ngith
setting. Last night, after I installed/ran Prime85, I did nothing.
Just went to bed.
I just opened a Firefox browser and will send an email to myself ..;
it went fine (7:27 AM)
I am openign Word..; went fine (7:28AM)
It;s 7:30am - day tiem starts
I now see
Merse...
Updating user information on the srever
Updating compueter information on the srever ..
...
..
...
...
Test1, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19922945 using 1024 FFT length
Test2, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19922943 using 1024 FFT length
Some computer have
relatively low power consumption in the idle state (like an Athlon64
when its core frequency drops, when the OS notices that the CPU is not
being used). Other processors don't save quite as much, when they are
idle. But if you are trying to verify whether your cooling problems
are solved, then use a test program to load up the CPU.
I am using Prime95.
My experience with my rather mediocre hardware, is that 3DMark benchmark
didn't draw any more power than using Prime95. It seems, when you run a
3D benchmark, the extra power the video card uses is compensated by the
fact that the CPU doesn't absolutely run at 100%. So while you might
have suspected a game would have a higher thermal load, it really depends
on whether you have a kick-ass video card or not.
I see.
There are some video
cards now at the 130W level, while at the same time, the processors
that feed them only draw 65W max. So video is really becoming a significant
component to power consumption, especially for those people who use two
of those video cards. My video card is a bit tamer than that.
I won't be getting into gaming. My use will mainly be for studying for
certs and practising some tools but I am planning to use the laptop
(thinkpad) I just ordrered the other day more so than the desktop.
You can download Prime95 (use torture test option) here.
Well, after I installed Prime95 last night it just starts running. I
didn't get to choose a test option. In fact, if I click on Prime95
icon, it asked me whether I want to un-install it. This morning, I
unsinstalled an dreintalled it after reading the readme file.
See "Step 1".
You don't have to "join", to use the torture test option.
I could not select torture test option . Help!
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
Programs like MBM5, Speedfan, or Asus Probe (I or II), can be used
to measure motherboard and CPU temperatures. I even have a sensor
connected in my computer, that pokes out the front grill, and measures
room temperature. That makes it easy for me to get room_temp,
case_air_temp, and CPU_temp, for comparison purposes. Right now
my room is 23C, case is 27C, and CPU is 40C.
Great, I will l get to those testing .... in time.
So, what does leaving a computer running do to it ?
1) Wears the fans. A fan might be good for three years of usage,
and 24 hour operation would have an impact on how long you'd
expect it to last. It will become noisy, before it quits
altogether.
I see. I should leave it off at night when I am asleep.
2) Disk drives are, for the most part, frictionless. The latest
drives use FDB bearings (fluid dynamic). Once up to speed,
a layer of oil between the parts, prevents mechanical contact.
This ideal state lasts, until the oil evaporates or is forced
out of the sealed bearing.
I see. Primary HD is 1 year old, secondary in this PC is 1 1/2 year
old)
High operating temperature, such as
an improperly cooled hard drive, accelerates this potential
failure. As long as the bearing is of good design, there is
no wear to speak of. With the older drives, they used ball
bearings, and those did wear and become noisy.
What would be an exmple of improperly cooled hard drive?
You can set drives to spin down after a couple hours of inactivity.
Most drives are specified to be able to withstand 50,000 start-stop
cycles, so you can do the math for yourself, as to how spinning
down the drive, would affect its life.
3) Heat inside the PSU, affects the life of the components. Continuous
usage of a really cheap PSU, might result in an early failure. For
a quality PSU, maybe wearing out the fan would be the next biggest
exposure.
I see. I am going to keep my PC turned off at night and when not suing
it for long hours like when I go out, after this Prime95 tersting is
done.
I place my computer in "S3 Standby - Suspend to RAM" when not being used.
How do you do that, placing at S3 Standyby? Bios setting?
In that state, the RAM is alive and holds all of its contents. All
other hardware is shut off. That drops the computer to 20W consumption
or so, at the wall plug, and the computer needs about 10 seconds before
it recovers when it wakes up. So that would be costing me about $14.00
per year :-)
If you use Hibernate, that copies the contents of RAM, onto your hard
drive. Once that is completed, you can even shut off the power at the
back of the computer. When you start the computer up, it is supposed
to return to the state it was in yesterday. That takes a bit longer
than the 10 seconds of S3 Standby, but the power cost in the off state
is zero.
Paul- Hide quoted text -
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