I've added two computers to my account here that normally are on, but sit idle most of the time. Does the SETI business cause a lot of wear and tear?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I've added two computers to my account here that normally are on, but sit idle most of the time. Does the SETI business cause a lot of wear and tear?

Maybe, maybe not.

It will run the fans faster due to heat over an idle machine.

It will move more data over a communications link.

It will draw more power.

It may keep the disk drive spun up.

It will not wear out RAM or CPU.

The items that might take the most abuse are the fans. If they are low quality the bearings may give out and then the heat may kill other parts.

As to the disk, there are two theories on that. One being better to never spin it down due to head wear issues. Two being to spin it down due to bearing issues.

If you start playing with overclocking, all beta are off.

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My old P4 XP machine ran 24/7 for nine years Before it had to be fixed. All it needed was new thermal paste, A new powersupply, And a hard drive. I ran it full bore for another year before I retired it after building my second I7.
My daily driver, My vista machine, Has been running 24/7 since 09.
These were both store bought jobs. Im really suprised my daily driver has held up, Its a small case and its cramped in there..

If they are idle you are still burning electricity, So why not let them crunch. I do check my temps, Make sure Im not trashing work everyday,And clean the dust bunnies out monthly.
I know every machine is different, And maybe ive been lucky. But I say let em run.

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Old James

Lot of variables.......

But, doing Seti 24/7 on a computer will increase power consumption, as the CPU is not idling anymore.
This is fine, as long as the computer is not poorly designed and has sufficient cooling to run at maximum power.
Some are not.
Laptops are notorious for having insufficient cooling to run at full power constantly. Some worse than others.

As far as actually 'wearing a computer out'? Don't think so. My first core2 duo is still running. Has crunched Seti it's whole life. And is now putting up a good fight supporting a couple of GTX580s.

The main thing is a bit of maintenance. Cleaning the bust bunnies (or as in my case, kitty furrballs) out once in a while.

When not running Seti, the idle time allows things to cool sufficiently to keep the computer running. At full power, cooling can be a problem when it is diminished by the gradual buildup of dust that reduces airflow.

Analogy...
It's kinda like a car that is driven by a little old lady to the local market in town every week. That car will probably run for many years without a problem.
But...take that car one day and let the local taxi service use it 24/7 on the freeway. Cooling that was acceptable for the little old lady and has gradually clogged up will now cause the poor thing to boil over.

Now...the previous comments are based on stock speeds. Get yer dander and yer overclock up, and LOL...different world instantly.

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Analogy...
It's kinda like a car that is driven by a little old lady to the local market in town every week. That car will probably run for many years without a problem.
But...take that car one day and let the local taxi service use it 24/7 on the freeway. Cooling that was acceptable for the little old lady and has gradually clogged up will now cause the poor thing to boil over.

I can vouch for that one, from personal experience.

Shortly after I got my full driver's licence, some 45 years ago, I borrowed my grandmother's car. It was a classic 'little old lady' car - a Morris Minor - and she drove it as you describe - to the shops and the hairdresser.



And yes, I overheated it...

Analogy...
It's kinda like a car that is driven by a little old lady to the local market in town every week. That car will probably run for many years without a problem.
But...take that car one day and let the local taxi service use it 24/7 on the freeway. Cooling that was acceptable for the little old lady and has gradually clogged up will now cause the poor thing to boil over.

I can vouch for that one, from personal experience.

Shortly after I got my full driver's licence, some 45 years ago, I borrowed my grandmother's car. It was a classic 'little old lady' car - a Morris Minor - and she drove it as you describe - to the shops and the hairdresser.



And yes, I overheated it...

I did the same with a loner car back some 37 years ago. My hot rod Buick GS400 was in the shop getting some paint work done. They loaned me a creampuff Ford Galaxy station wagon. Mint. Some 60,000 miles on it. I proceeded to drive it the way I always drove. Light...green. Go. Light...red. Stomp the brakes. Light...yellow/orange/maybe part of both/dunno, give it a go.
Well, the poor thing keeled over with a busted head gasket after two days.
Next loaner....a wreck with over 150,000 miles on it.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

If you run a laptop then you take your chances. These "Bic Lighters" I call them because they seem to be disposable will burn fairly quick. The newer ones with medium to high end GPU's in them are not going to last long if you do not have a cooling system on them.
A Laptop fan under them is a must.
As far as desktops go keep them clean and make sure the fans are not making any weird noises and they will last a very long time.
The CPU will probably never burn out unless the fan fails but the boards now have safeties built into them so if a failure does occur it will just shut the machine down and tell you you have a thermal overheat before it does.

Get a good monitor program to keep an eye on voltages and temperatures.
There are many but the one I use is simply the best.
SIV ( System Information Viewer ) by Red Ray is the best I have seen for a Boinc user.
He has built in an entire page to allow users of Boinc to keep Boinc under full control. He also updates a lot. It is constantly being improved.
It does not use global locks which will allow other programs that use the sensors to work without shutting down SIV

To download go here

http://rh-software.com/

Depending on what system you have use the SIV32X or SIV64X
Start as admin and use the argument -GPUCTL (Gpu control)
That will give you control over GPU such as Overclocking the GPU and control over fans

Bottom line is keep you system clean and free from heat and you are crunching for a very long time unless your kitty goes in and bites a fan wire and it smokes the computer.


Have a great day

I use iStat Pro, and SMC Fan Control on my primary computer, a 2009 iMac, and I've been a little worried about the CPU fan because I think it has a bearing issue(discussed in the Beer Drinker's thread), but I'm reluctant to take things apart and add a drop of oil. The temps are fine; it's just noisy.

If you look at my account, the computers I just added are Windows desktops, one with 4 cores and one with 2, and that one doesn't show a GPU. I'll try the program you suggested, Michael, to keep an eye on them. Thanks.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

If the iMac is a single unit and not a desktop the fan issue may be one great headache.
They are just like laptops and very hard to maintain.
I do not use any Mac products at all for one reason. MONEY
Cost is way too high.
A noisy fan could resolve itself if you turn it down a bit but with that iMac heat is a killer

On my desktop I have a cool master 212 plus cooler and it keeps the CPU very cool but the motherboard is hot so I completely remove the side cover and place a small desk fan blowing in.
Keeps thing very cool but I did loose one MOBO recently as my cat did bite into a fan wire and shorted out the circuit. Smoked my MOBO.

Now I have a small screen replacing the side cover so no cats get in there
I run full bore on this six core and at 100% load running AP units I get temps hovering around 32C.
Very cool for air cooling.

Good luck and keep your computer cool

Michael

When I was running an iMac at work I had a 120mm fan on a stand. It would blow air up into the intake vents at the bottom to help cool it.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

LOL...I never had a lappy, but I can see the Bic Lighters reference....
My next take will be to connect a USB wireless keyboard and mousey to Lori's new 70" Sharp LED TV....
The last time I brought it up she looked at me as hard as nails on brick and said.......NFW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Like, she thought I wuz gonna try to crunch Seti on it or sumpthin.

Hmmm.........I don't think you can download software to a TV, can ya?

Never mind. Even if ya could, she would simply slay me if anything went wrong.

I don't want a $1800.00 brick on MY shoulders....LOL.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Never ever had an temperature related fail on my iMac's. Had one crunching for just over six years. As Apple both builds the case and the MB they are very good at getting the thermal profile correct. Yes they run hotter that the PC crowd likes, but they do run. Also they seem to keep a much more stable temp environment. So no excess thermal expansion and contraction from wild temperature swings that can cause bad connections.

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Never ever had an temperature related fail on my iMac's. Had one crunching for just over six years. As Apple both builds the case and the MB they are very good at getting the thermal profile correct. Yes they run hotter that the PC crowd likes, but they do run. Also they seem to keep a much more stable temp environment. So no excess thermal expansion and contraction from wild temperature swings that can cause bad connections.

Hmm...80f in the crunching den right now. Ambient is going over 81f tomorrow.
I might be able to maintain, but I can see some things going over temp.
83 Sunday, 85 Monday. Some things are gonna break if I don't shut them down manually.
Meowsigh.
I guess it's the Time of the Season.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I've added two computers to my account here that normally are on, but sit idle most of the time. Does the SETI business cause a lot of wear and tear?

It shouldn't cause a "lot" of wear and tear. But it is fully utilising the machine. Means temperatures will be a little higher, and more current though the PSU and regulators on the system board is higher. This could increase the "ageing" of the capacitors in that area, and lead to an earlier failure. Where as a machine running at idle might last longer. But by the time it kills the machine it's probably well and truly past it's use by date.

This is more due to substandard parts being used in that area (to save costs) on consumer grade equipment. Better quality "server" type equipment tends to be build with higher rated components, that aren't under as much stress, and so last longer. I have some OLD servers (p4s etc) with Intel boards and cases etc. The PSU's hardly every fail, and cooling fans are very durable. (compared to the cheaper "consumer" grade desktops.

Of course as the others say, clean the vents and heatsinks. Make sure the fans are running properly etc. A quick blow out of dust is cheap insurance, and replacement fans are cheap.

Hard disks? They seem to fail whether you run them or not. They die from running, they die from sitting idle, they die from spinning up and down all the time. I just keep spares.,.

Laptops are more problematic. Smaller heatsinks and fans etc. Means they are often easier to cook.

Ian

I have a HP 635 laptop running 3 BOINC projects 24/7 on two supporting plastic rods. The only change I made was to increase its RAM to 8 GB and substituting a 320 GB hard disk running at 5400 RPM with a 250 GB SSD. It runs Linux.
Tullio

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LOL...I never had a lappy, but I can see the Bic Lighters reference....
My next take will be to connect a USB wireless keyboard and mousey to Lori's new 70" Sharp LED TV....
The last time I brought it up she looked at me as hard as nails on brick and said.......NFW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Like, she thought I wuz gonna try to crunch Seti on it or sumpthin.

Hmmm.........I don't think you can download software to a TV, can ya?

Never mind. Even if ya could, she would simply slay me if anything went wrong.

I don't want a $1800.00 brick on MY shoulders....LOL.

And some notebooks just will not die. Despite running them ragged 24/7 for 9-10 years even with nearly a 60% overclock. Other than the battery & the left button on the touchpad dying not a lot of wear on it from running SETI@home.

The main source of failures I have seen on machines I have been running SETI@home at work would be blown caps on the motherboards. Old electrolytic caps tend to have this issue with age. So far is has mostly been old Dell Optiplex GX280 systems with that issue.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

LOL...I never had a lappy, but I can see the Bic Lighters reference....
My next take will be to connect a USB wireless keyboard and mousey to Lori's new 70" Sharp LED TV....
The last time I brought it up she looked at me as hard as nails on brick and said.......NFW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Like, she thought I wuz gonna try to crunch Seti on it or sumpthin.

Hmmm.........I don't think you can download software to a TV, can ya?

Never mind. Even if ya could, she would simply slay me if anything went wrong.

I don't want a $1800.00 brick on MY shoulders....LOL.

And some notebooks just will not die. Despite running them ragged 24/7 for 9-10 years even with nearly a 60% overclock. Other than the battery & the left button on the touchpad dying not a lot of wear on it from running SETI@home.

The main source of failures I have seen on machines I have been running SETI@home at work would be blown caps on the motherboards. Old electrolytic caps tend to have this issue with age. So far is has mostly been old Dell Optiplex GX280 systems with that issue.

I have been lucky as of late regarding mobos.
Of course, as soon as I post that, one will die a horrible death...LOL.
Newer versions of most mobos have gone to solid caps. Which do not dry out, leak out, or otherwise fail in the manner that they used to.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

If a computer is crunching Seti in the background, with no attempts made to be over exuberant about it, I doubt that it's life will be diminished much at all.
As I stated, the main factor is cooling. If you are running Seti, the computer will be running at maximum power at all times.
So there is little room for error when the fans get stuffed up.
Any time one of my rigs goes away, it is usually due to the kitty fur buildup in the fans.
This is not a joke, LOL.
I keep a screwdriver handy at all times to take the fans off and remove an amazing pad of kitty fur from them. You would be amazed to see the wad of fluff that is acquired just by cats walking by to say howdy.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

LOL...I never had a lappy, but I can see the Bic Lighters reference....
My next take will be to connect a USB wireless keyboard and mousey to Lori's new 70" Sharp LED TV....
The last time I brought it up she looked at me as hard as nails on brick and said.......NFW>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Like, she thought I wuz gonna try to crunch Seti on it or sumpthin.

Hmmm.........I don't think you can download software to a TV, can ya?

Never mind. Even if ya could, she would simply slay me if anything went wrong.

I don't want a $1800.00 brick on MY shoulders....LOL.

And some notebooks just will not die. Despite running them ragged 24/7 for 9-10 years even with nearly a 60% overclock. Other than the battery & the left button on the touchpad dying not a lot of wear on it from running SETI@home.

The main source of failures I have seen on machines I have been running SETI@home at work would be blown caps on the motherboards. Old electrolytic caps tend to have this issue with age. So far is has mostly been old Dell Optiplex GX280 systems with that issue.

It was/is a manufacturing defect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

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The main source of failures I have seen on machines I have been running SETI@home at work would be blown caps on the motherboards. Old electrolytic caps tend to have this issue with age. So far is has mostly been old Dell Optiplex GX280 systems with that issue.

It was/is a manufacturing defect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Yes, for equipment made with those capacitors which had "higher than expected premature failure rate".

OTOH, all electrolytic capacitors and other components do have aging characteristics such that they'll eventually be unsuitable for purpose or outright fail. Higher temperatures or other stresses accelerate that aging, but in the context of this thread what's important is whether the projected life of the system is reduced unacceptably. That's a personal decision, for instance some may consider a system more than two years old to be obsolete and replace it even if it hasn't failed.

                                                                  Joe