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1. arunisaac (arunisaac@social.systemreboot.net)'s status on Saturday, 23-Mar-2019 04:33:27 EDT arunisaac
   I've started contributing my idle CPU cycles to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS). https://www.mersenne.org/
   I have always been content to live with humble low-end CPUs and computer hardware, even though I do a fair bit of computing, compiling software from source code, etc. But now with the prime search, I feel tempted to buy some expensive high-performance hardware. :-|
   1. arunisaac (arunisaac@social.systemreboot.net)'s status on Monday, 25-Mar-2019 03:20:36 EDT arunisaac

      in reply to
      With the prime search, my laptop is running at full power (around 30 W, IIRC) *all the time*. Now, I am a little worried about the power adapter and the CPU's cooling systems. Is this a valid concern?
      1. solariiknight(ஆனந்த்) (solariiknight@social.systemreboot.net)'s status on Monday, 25-Mar-2019 04:33:33 EDT solariiknight(ஆனந்த்)

         in reply to
         The CPU will throttle itself in case of high temperature (and shutdown if need be). The surrounding components may be vulnerable if not selected and/or positioned carefully - the aluminium electrolyte capacitors in the board will drastically reduce in life if they get heated up. The heat sink and fans need to be cleaned up if they are clogged and replaced if the fan stops working. The laptops plastic casing becomes weak after a long time of heat exposure. One of my old laptop's plastic casing near the heat exhaust became very brittle as potato chips after 8 years in service.
         
         Power adaptor - have electrolytic capacitors and hence same concern.