Old Computer

[LaurV]

Power settings/Turn Off the Display after xxx minutes.

[bcp19]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Power settings/Turn Off the Display after xxx minutes.

That may not work if he has installed new software. My old laptop no longer powers down the display since I had to do a full installation of 64 bit Vista on it (wouldn't let me upgrade).

[Primeinator]

I also wonder if it would be safe to run the computer outside in cold temperatures. There is a screened in patio that has an outlet. However, it is gotten quite cold here. A couple of nights have been below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Would this be hazardous to the computer so long as it isn't raining? Or would the drastic temperature difference cause condensation that would damage the computer? The idea of running the laptop outside is rather amusing to me...

[Christenson]

Two issues:
1) hard drive bearings...might not like the cold
2) condensation....when you bring it into the warm, moist air inside, put a plastic bag on the outside and let the beast warm up slowly. Likewise, when you take it outside with warm, moist air in it, let that air diffuse away before it gets chilled. put the laptop in a sealed bag on a couple of blocks and let any condensation form on the bag when you take the setup outside.
3) And do give it a roof of some kind, just in case you are out and about when it starts raining or snowing...your roommate isn't going to be helpful here.
4) Laptops have a finite (read 3-4 year maximum) life, and you will shorten it by running P95, especially if the dust issue hasn't been dealt with. You can afford to lose this laptop, right?

[KyleAskine]

Originally Posted by Primeinator

I also wonder if it would be safe to run the computer outside in cold temperatures. There is a screened in patio that has an outlet. However, it is gotten quite cold here. A couple of nights have been below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Would this be hazardous to the computer so long as it isn't raining? Or would the drastic temperature difference cause condensation that would damage the computer? The idea of running the laptop outside is rather amusing to me...

I suspect that it would be okay, so long as you kept it running. 20F is probably a little extreme, but a laptop should keep itself warm enough that it should be fine. Physically spinning hard disks would probably be the problem if anything at that temp (circuitry would be totally fine). I wouldn't boot it up cold though at below freezing.

What you shouldn't do is move it from cold unpowered to warm, and then power up. That is what causes condensation (imagine what happens to glasses when you walk inside after shoveling snow if you are in a cold climate).

That being said - it isn't my laptop - and this is all speculation. Please do real research before you do anything! I have an old laptop I am temped to try this with now on my patio. Only problem is it might get rained on if it rains.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by bcp19

That may not work if he has installed new software. My old laptop no longer powers down the display since I had to do a full installation of 64 bit Vista on it (wouldn't let me upgrade).

It will work if you install back the acpi drivers, which should be available on the web, or on manufacturer's site, or on the CD that you got with the laptop, etc. That is standard windoze stuff, need only to know the GPIOs where the display on/off and backlight on/off/dimming are connected. And it will have the advantage (compared with the black screen saver) that it will save the backlight power/lifetime too (if the laptop is old, then most probably it has a CCFL backlight, with shorter life-time anyhow, and higher power consumption, compared with modern LED backlights).

[cheesehead]

Originally Posted by KyleAskine

What you shouldn't do is move it from cold unpowered to warm, and then power up. That is what causes condensation (imagine what happens to glasses when you walk inside after shoveling snow if you are in a cold climate).

(* memo to self: shop for powered glasses *)

[Dubslow]

Originally Posted by Primeinator

Unfortunately this is not an option due to my current living arrangements. The only place I can have my computer is in my room and I'd rather not have the lid open during the night. Even dimming the screen puts off too much light.

Lol I have this problem too, and until I unplugged the cords for the case lights (during heatsink installation), I covered them with books and stuff (still cover the router lights, which flash and are therefore much more annoying).

[bcp19]

Originally Posted by LaurV

It will work if you install back the acpi drivers, which should be available on the web, or on manufacturer's site, or on the CD that you got with the laptop, etc. That is standard windoze stuff, need only to know the GPIOs where the display on/off and backlight on/off/dimming are connected. And it will have the advantage (compared with the black screen saver) that it will save the backlight power/lifetime too (if the laptop is old, then most probably it has a CCFL backlight, with shorter life-time anyhow, and higher power consumption, compared with modern LED backlights).

My laptop runs on an AMD Turion x2 cpu and most of what you said above is greek to me. Since I have no idea where the discs that came with the computer are (having moved at least twice since it was new) that is not an option, but I guess I can connect it to the router and see if the manufacturer site still supports it.

[Primeinator]

Originally Posted by Christenson

Two issues:
1) hard drive bearings...might not like the cold
2) condensation....when you bring it into the warm, moist air inside, put a plastic bag on the outside and let the beast warm up slowly. Likewise, when you take it outside with warm, moist air in it, let that air diffuse away before it gets chilled. put the laptop in a sealed bag on a couple of blocks and let any condensation form on the bag when you take the setup outside.
3) And do give it a roof of some kind, just in case you are out and about when it starts raining or snowing...your roommate isn't going to be helpful here.
4) Laptops have a finite (read 3-4 year maximum) life, and you will shorten it by running P95, especially if the dust issue hasn't been dealt with. You can afford to lose this laptop, right?

Originally Posted by KyleAskine

I suspect that it would be okay, so long as you kept it running. 20F is probably a little extreme, but a laptop should keep itself warm enough that it should be fine. Physically spinning hard disks would probably be the problem if anything at that temp (circuitry would be totally fine). I wouldn't boot it up cold though at below freezing.

What you shouldn't do is move it from cold unpowered to warm, and then power up. That is what causes condensation (imagine what happens to glasses when you walk inside after shoveling snow if you are in a cold climate).

That being said - it isn't my laptop - and this is all speculation. Please do real research before you do anything! I have an old laptop I am temped to try this with now on my patio. Only problem is it might get rained on if it rains.

Thanks! I will keep these things in mind! Yes, I can afford to lose the old laptop but I would like to avoid losing it if possible. I will also do some further research on the Internet to see what others have to say about running laptops out in the cold. I also have a friend that can probably clean out the dust from the heat sink and fan.

[science_man_88]

Originally Posted by Primeinator

Hello,

I have started running Prime95 on my old laptop. It is running Windows7 Home Premium and has an Intel Core 2 T7200 2.0 GHz processor. I am currently running 2 LL tests in the 56M range; however, the per iteration times are very large... 190 to 300 ms. I was wondering if there was anything I can do to speed these times up. I do realize that the per iteration time is going to be larger on a slower processor and larger as the exponent increases in size. What I do not know is if something can be done to make it a little faster...Important to answering this question is I really only want to use this computer for Prime95. Thus, I am prepared to lose functionality if a significant speed boost can be attained. Thanks!

Kyle

I might have to clean my computer's parts ( though I do have antivirus) because even though I run a lot in one set of iterations it jumped from ~1 second to over 19 on one side.