[GRLUG] Burn up the CPU - NOT LINUX

[Adam Tauno Williams]

Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
>On a scale of folklore to fact, is
>there anything to the notion that
>one can burn up a CPU by keeping
>it at full throttle for an extended
>period?
>Consider just nominal clock rates,
>not over clocking.
>e.g., if someone,  me for example,
>was to process SETI data 24/7, is
>the CPU likely to smoke?
>I can imagine that a particularly
>dusty CPU and cooling fin might
>pose issues.  Anything else?  Even
>that?

If your box is from the early Pentium Pro vintage than, yes, you can smoke it.  Pretty much impossible on anything newer - at least they will just turn off.


>Some motherboards have thermal
>protection of various kinds. Is there
>an open software package that can
>display where things are at? 


Yes,  this is supported out-of-the-box in most cases.  Usually managed by a package called lmsensors.  Most DE's have widgets for displaying this information - which on modern hardware is never worth the trouble of knowing.



-- 
Adam Tauno Williams, LPI1 / NCLA