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Draft

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 18, 2002
455
1
Chicago, IL
Is it bad for your computer to leave it on all night for working on Folding@Home? Thanks in advance.

Draft
 

Rower_CPU

Moderator emeritus
Oct 5, 2001
11,219
2
San Diego, CA
It depends on what you mean by "bad".

As long as you have adequate cooling, you will not be doing any extra damage to your processor than would occur normally.

Running Folding or SETI or any other CPU intensive app for long periods of time will take its toll on your CPU in the long run. Give it a break every so often and you should be fine.:)
 

backspinner

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2002
548
0
Eindhoven
Well it costs you money on the electricity and the drives and fans are wearing of course. It would be best to put your harddrive to sleep. Most computers will take it light and won't break by folding, and remember: Apples are by design the most durable computers of the world.
 

britboy

macrumors 68030
Nov 4, 2001
2,655
0
Argentina
I'll assume you're running a mac with OS X. If not, please forgive me.

Leaving your mac on overnight is probably one of the best things you can do. Unix is set to run most of its maintenance programs from 3am (when it's unlikely that anyone would be using the computer). By leaving your computer on, you're allowing those utilities to run, and keep your mac's hard drive squeeky-clean and problem-less.
 

mmmdreg

macrumors 65816
Apr 14, 2002
1,393
0
Sydney, Australia
Originally posted by Tiauguinho
BritBoy...

Can you please explain a little bit more please... On how does it work or what programs are that.

Thanks in advance!

They're just maintenance programs that clean up your computer..you can run it anytime by typing "sudo sh /etc/daily" and "sudo sh /etc/weekly" and "sudo sh /etc/monthly" providing you already have root enabled (I think)...if you run those in a terminal, you can see what it is doing...
a question: do those scripts run even when the computer is running seti or folding?
 

AlphaTech

macrumors 601
Oct 4, 2001
4,556
0
Natick, MA
Hell, I don't even fold my laundry let alone let my computer do folding. :D Really, I haven't folded any laundry in months... Color me lazy, crazy or anything you like. By the time I get finished with the wash, I just don't feel like blowing the time by folding it all up. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that during the summer we get to wear t-shirts to work... When I need to wear the good shirts, I do iron them, but that's another topic. :D :p..

I'd rather spend my 'down time' online, or blasting some poor being into oblivion (love shooting games). :D
 

britboy

macrumors 68030
Nov 4, 2001
2,655
0
Argentina
Originally posted by AlphaTech

I'd rather spend my 'down time' online, or blasting some poor being into oblivion


I thought you did those simultaneously on MR? :p

Tiauguinho~ mmmdreg pretty much cleared that up :)
 

AlphaTech

macrumors 601
Oct 4, 2001
4,556
0
Natick, MA
Originally posted by britboy
I thought you did those simultaneously on MR? :p

Well, they have put a dampner on the flamers, so I have to vent somehow... the beings in the games don't b*tch and whine nearly as bad... they do scream sometimes, but it's all good. :D

Yes, I am a twisted f*ck, you got a problem with that???? :D
 
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