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denim · Sep 24, 2003, 01:39 PM

I'm a bit concerned.

I run the distributed.net client on my machines, which keeps the nasty "idle" time down. However, I've heard that the G5 will get hot if I make it work all the time, and this will make the fans get noisy. True??

chris v · Sep 24, 2003, 02:41 PM

What's the "normal" CPU operating temp. range, and is there any way to view CPU temp accurately on the G5?

I wouldn't worry too much, but it would be nice to know. Apple has to figure that quite a number of customers are going to be keeping these things under full CPU load a fair amount of the time rendering video, and whatrnot.

Unfortunately, RC5 hasn't been optimised for the G5 yet, and apparently, the numbers arent any better on a dual 2.0 G5 than on a dual 1.42 G4.

CV

denim · Sep 24, 2003, 03:35 PM

Originally posted by chris v:
What's the "normal" CPU operating temp. range, and is there any way to view CPU temp accurately on the G5?

I have no idea.

I wouldn't worry too much, but it would be nice to know. Apple has to figure that quite a number of customers are going to be keeping these things under full CPU load a fair amount of the time rendering video, and whatrnot.

That's what I'm hoping, yeah.

Unfortunately, RC5 hasn't been optimised for the G5 yet, and apparently, the numbers arent any better on a dual 2.0 G5 than on a dual 1.42 G4.

Once the thing has a core for the G5, which I'm sure will be "soon", it'll be... interesting, wouldn't you say?

Scotttheking · Sep 24, 2003, 04:12 PM

Originally posted by denim:
Once the thing has a core for the G5, which I'm sure will be "soon", it'll be... interesting, wouldn't you say?

A 2GHz G5 will be equivalent to a G4 processor at around 1.7-1.8GHz.

denim · Sep 24, 2003, 04:21 PM

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
A 2GHz G5 will be equivalent to a G4 processor at around 1.7-1.8GHz.

Why would that be?

Link · Sep 24, 2003, 04:23 PM

Yeah then it will get interesting, but I'm begining to wonder what the morons at RC5 did.. at one point mac was THE platform to do RC5 crunching on and now they totally ditched mac optimizations..

Well anyway from what I've heard even running the thing 24/7 under full load won't make too much noise.. it's still less then dual processor quicksilvers made and those things got noisier then MDDs did when under full load. (well at least 7450 based ones).

It won't get that loud.. just keep the g5 on the floor.

chris v · Sep 24, 2003, 04:46 PM

Originally posted by Link:
Yeah then it will get interesting, but I'm begining to wonder what the morons at RC5 did.. at one point mac was THE platform to do RC5 crunching on and now they totally ditched mac optimizations..

Not true. They were slow about it, however. the G4 Altivec-enhanced client has been out since March 3rd '03, at least in Release-Candidate form. It went final sometime this past summer.

I can get 850 W/U's a day out of 3 G4 boxes on a good day.

CV

Scotttheking · Sep 24, 2003, 05:14 PM

Originally posted by denim:
Why would that be?

The G5 isn't always faster then the G4+. SIMD code that isn't bandwidth limited would be one of those things.

Originally posted by chris v:
Not true. They were slow about it, however.

They don't write optimized cores, volunteers do. So it's not dnet's fault, it's the lack of volunteers.

no1allowed · Sep 24, 2003, 08:17 PM

I'm currently running Seti@Home 24/7 and I still can never hear my G5 over the external Firewire hard drive. I've put my hand back there and the air is only slightly warm exiting from the computer. And not with any force either. I call it a cheap burn-in. The one thing I do, though, is run the seti@home app off of a small compact flash in a CF reader. This way the hard drive gets a chance to sleep. And I've got my energy saver set to never sleep. HTH

Sosa · Sep 24, 2003, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by no1allowed:
The one thing I do, though, is run the seti@home app off of a small compact flash in a CF reader. This way the hard drive gets a chance to sleep. And I've got my energy saver set to never sleep. HTH

I had some people tell me that you HD is always spinning when the computer is on. What is the truth about this?

I leave my iBook running SETI at night sometimes. Does that make the HD spin and thus increase wear and tear? I've already been told that increased CPU heat decreased the life of the processor.

G4ME · Sep 24, 2003, 08:46 PM

yeah if you are doing seti you are accessing the HD often, but it isn't like loading an App of a 600MB movie, its very small, i think its less then surfing the web.

You can set the time the HD sleeps in the energy control panel.

no1allowed · Sep 24, 2003, 10:02 PM

Yeah Seti accesses the hard drive alot when running off of that. My main concern with the hard drive access is that the hard drive never goes to sleep once Seti is running. Best to have the hard drive sleep every once in a while or the constant on time won't help it in the long run. The motor in the hard drive is usually always the first thing to go. When it does - head crash!

denim · Sep 25, 2003, 09:10 AM

Originally posted by no1allowed:
My main concern with the hard drive access is that the hard drive never goes to sleep once Seti is running. Best to have the hard drive sleep every once in a while or the constant on time won't help it in the long run. The motor in the hard drive is usually always the first thing to go. When it does - head crash!

You seem a bit confused.

The main killer of such components is the heating-cooling cycle. It's best to keep things running all the time. The only reasons to "sleep" them are (1) save power and (2) reduce noise.