[t_hah]

I have a PowerBook and in the environment I use it, if I run a process that uses the CPU at a high level the PowerBook gets really hot. This kicks the fan on...I just want to somehow avoid it.

If you run top in the Terminal you get all kind of processes in a list. Then you get the idle thread. From what I understand, the idle thread show how much of the processor is NOT used at the moment.

Is it possible somehow to set a minimum size to this idle thread, thus limiting the processor not to get over a certain CPU usage?

This would be very useful on the road, things would take a little longer to process, but at least I could keep the heat generation of the PowerBook down.

Thanks,

t

[rytc]

Just run multiple instances of word in the background, it uses ~10% of the CPU when doing nothing!!!?!
Sorry I'm not much help in this area
Cheers Ry

[msuper69]

Have you tried setting the Processor Performance to 'Reduced' in System Preferences/Energy Saver/Options?

[t_hah]

rytc: your answer was probably a joke, since that would still run the processor usage high...10% CPU usage, is 10% CPU usage.

msuper69...I have not tried it yet...I really did not want to, since that would reduce the processor's speed by about half...but it I wil have to, I might do that.

If anyoneone know if the trick with the idle process is possible, please let me know.

Thanks,

t

[Graymalkin]

The idle process in OSX is not a real process. If it means exactly what it says, the processor is running idle. Idle means the processor is doing nothing and isn't going to generate much heat. To keep the fan from coming on set the processor performance to "reduced".