# 24x7 always on laptop



## rahul_c (Apr 2, 2011)

I have a Dell Vostro 1510 laptop which I am using extremely  since couple of weeks (mostly for downloading), it is always plugged in and running mostly.

I was just wondering how much impact its going to have on the laptop life. I make sure it screen is off and lid is closed also I had recently configured 'maximum processor state' under advance power settings to 20% it has significantly reduced the fan speed and thus the temperature. 

Is there anything else that can be done to make sure my laptop doesn't heat up exceedingly?


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## thetechfreak (Apr 2, 2011)

Keep laptop in an AC room to keep it cooled.
Clean the side vents.

Disable uneccesary programs.
Keep lappy slightky tilted with the vent side in elevation


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## rahul_c (Apr 3, 2011)

OK. I am not sure at what temperature my laptop is running, what software should I use? I dont have a AC, what about cooling pads do they work? I have heard they dont make any considerable difference.


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## thetechfreak (Apr 3, 2011)

Use these-- links---
Open Hardware Monitor | CPU Temperature, Fan Speed, Voltages, Clocks and More

Real Temp - CPU temperature monitoring


Please post sceen shots of temparatures


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## rahul_c (Apr 3, 2011)

Open hardware monitor was showing 5-9 units lower temperature.

*Heavy load (encoding video)-*
*i56.tinypic.com/73kume.jpg

*Idle for 5 minutes-*
*i51.tinypic.com/2wqso7r.jpg


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## thetechfreak (Apr 3, 2011)

Stop using the laptop....98c will FRY your proccy!!!!!!!!!!


YOu will be destroyed,..


Dont do heavy stuff now


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## rahul_c (Apr 3, 2011)

I guess I should not encode videos on my laptop, temperature are fine when idle so its ok to keep it running idle for long hrs?


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## noob (Apr 5, 2011)

Do it. If using windows 7, set it at Power saving mode. I am keeping same at room temp and no issues.

BTW, no power cut at your end ?


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## thetechfreak (Apr 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:
			
		

> I guess I should not encode videos on my laptop, temperature are fine when idle so its ok to keep it running idle for long hrs?




No man. They are way too high as well. They should be the temparatures when running under load. 

I reccomend to clean your laptop or atleast get it to servicing problem and ask them to clean it.


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## Zangetsu (Apr 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> I was just wondering how much impact its going to have on the laptop life.



No effect on Hardware..only u have to change the battery early by default it is 3yrs


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## rahul_c (Apr 5, 2011)

OK, I just configured 'Max processor state' and made it 50% and now the temperature didn't exceed 60 C ever.



			
				Anil Jadhav said:
			
		

> Do it. If using windows 7, set it at Power saving mode. I am keeping same at room temp and no issues.
> BTW, no power cut at your end ?


Yes I live in Uttrakhand power cut is not a issue here. 



			
				thetechfreak said:
			
		

> No man. They are way too high as well. They should be the temparatures when running under load.
> I reccomend to clean your laptop or atleast get it to servicing problem and ask them to clean it.


Is 60 C hot? 



			
				Zangetsu said:
			
		

> No effect on Hardware..only u have to change the battery early by default it is 3yrs


But its not running on battery, I always keep it plugged in how is it affecting the battery life?


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## amitava82 (Apr 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> Stop using the laptop....98c will FRY your proccy!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> YOu will be destroyed,..
> ...


No it won't. been running over 100c for 2 years 16hrs a day.


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## Zangetsu (Apr 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> But its not running on battery, I always keep it plugged in how is it affecting the battery life?



u mean to say u have removed the battery & directly running it on AC chord


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## rahul_c (Apr 6, 2011)

^No battery is there but its always fully charged(100%)


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## thetechfreak (Apr 6, 2011)

rahul_c said:
			
		

> ^No battery is there but its always fully charged(100%)




What kind of battery life you get? Probably very bad.





			
				amitsva82 said:
			
		

> No it won't. been running over 100c for 2 years 16hrs a day.



Well, it won't affect you right now. But it reduces life of proccy and GPU. Can you keep a laptop running at 100c on your lap? Don't think so.

Most laptop suffer from overheating due to lack of cooling. But laptop GPU's anc CPU are designed in such a way that they can withstand higher tepratures.

Laptops can run upto 70c. But 90c and 100c is way too high.


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## noob (Apr 6, 2011)

my laptop battery died after 1 year..now using without battery.

Running lappy without battery is like having sex without condom  you never know when a small mistake (power cut) will cost you a failure in HDD


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## rahul_c (Apr 6, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> What kind of battery life you get? Probably very bad.


Yes I do get poor battery life it hardly exceeds 1hr (minimum display brightness and browsing web). What should I do stop this degradation in battery life? Cant I tell windows to directly run via AC and not charge battery without removing it?



			
				talktoanil said:
			
		

> Running lappy without battery is like having sex without condom you never know when a small mistake (power cut) will cost you a failure in HDD


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## Zangetsu (Apr 6, 2011)

talktoanil said:


> my laptop battery died after 1 year..now using without battery.
> 
> Running lappy without battery is like having sex without condom  you never know when a small mistake (power cut) will cost you a failure in HDD



in dat case use UPS


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## thetechfreak (Apr 6, 2011)

rahul_c said:
			
		

> What should I do stop this degradation in battery life?




Have a look here- 10 Tips to make your Laptop Battery last longer





			
				rahul_c said:
			
		

> Cant I tell windows to directly run via AC and not charge battery without removing it?



I don't think so


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## asingh (Apr 6, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> Open hardware monitor was showing 5-9 units lower temperature.
> 
> *Heavy load (encoding video)-*
> *i56.tinypic.com/73kume.jpg
> ...



In the settings on RealTEMP what is TJMax set to..?


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## rahul_c (Apr 6, 2011)

^All settings were default 
TJ max = 100 C


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## asingh (Apr 6, 2011)

^
Then it is running way way to hot. Get a service technician to open the device and clean it out.


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## rahul_c (Apr 7, 2011)

I have removed battery cause I cant find any other way to make it stop charging. 
I have reduced the temperatures to 55~60 C by under clocking my CPU,I dont need to go to service centre now. I will have to stop encoding videos on my laptop that was causing extreme heat.
*i53.tinypic.com/n6an2h.jpg
The average temperature in high performance mode never exceeds 70 C (light use).


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## rahul_c (May 3, 2011)

I was sick of running laptop in low performance mode, so I finally opened it today to check for dust. And thankfully it was easy, just two screws to open the section where processor, heat-sink and fan were present. There was not much dust near intake fan but the heat-sink was totally blocked with a pile of it! I removed it and everything it fine, now temperature has reduced to ~50 C in battery mode and ~70 C in high performance mode. I tried stressing the CPU and it reached ~80 C which is fine, is it?


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## thetechfreak (May 3, 2011)

Yeah 80c is just about fine for laptop.
Good job in opening and cleaning it.


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## Sid_hooda (May 3, 2011)

When downloading, keep the lid open. Vostro 1410/1510 have bad cooling (especially around the HDD which frequently reaches 45+ C) which might affect its long term reliability. 

Also, run HWMonitor and post the wear level of the battery, that backup time is way less. My 1410 used to give me ~ 3.5 hours backup when browsing the web
(When did you buy the laptop BTW ?)


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## ithehappy (May 4, 2011)

OFF TOPIC:
After reading the above I have a question, I was planning to buy a Notebook only for downloading, so it will be on for about 16 odd hours, so is there any problem if it's on for that long? I won't do anything besides Downloading and some Surfing, so is it ok???


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## rahul_c (May 4, 2011)

thetechfreak said:
			
		

> Yeah 80c is just about fine for laptop.
> Good job in opening and cleaning it.


Thanks!  I admit it was scary though, I have heard HP/Compaq laptop just fall apart when opened thankfully it didn't happened in Vostro.



			
				Sid_hooda said:
			
		

> When downloading, keep the lid open. Vostro 1410/1510 have bad cooling (especially around the HDD which frequently reaches 45+ C) which might affect its long term reliability.
> 
> Also, run HWMonitor and post the wear level of the battery, that backup time is way less. My 1410 used to give me ~ 3.5 hours backup when browsing the web
> (When did you buy the laptop BTW ?)


I don't keep the lid open it makes the laptop dusty especially keyboard, I switch to balanced mode when downloading which make temperature drop to ~55 C. Switching to balanced mode reduces my CPU speed to ~800 MHz.

Yes my battery life has degraded drastically, battery wont last more than 1 and 1/2 hr. I ran laptop without it for few days, but it has a downside when light goes laptop shuts even when inverter is present(there is 1-2 sec gap before the backup kicks in). So I started using it again as a UPS .My HDD temperature is 48 C(Max), and my laptop is 2 yrs old.



			
				ithehappy said:
			
		

> After reading the above I have a question, I was planning to buy a Notebook only for downloading, so it will be on for about 16 odd hours, so is there any problem if it's on for that long? I won't do anything besides Downloading and some Surfing, so is it ok???


IMO desktops are better for downloading purposes, unless you really require laptop I would suggest you to go for a desktop.


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## eagle06 (May 4, 2011)

follow this undervolting guide, it will increase your battery life and decrease your cpu temperatures  by atleast 5 C.

*forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html


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## ithehappy (May 4, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> IMO desktops are better for downloading purposes, unless you really require laptop I would suggest you to go for a desktop.


But a Desktop consumes much more power than a Laptop, right?


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## nginx (May 4, 2011)

You guys are way too conservative and overprotective about your laptop. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about running a laptop 24x7. My laptop is 3 years old now and I never shut down my lappy, at best I close the lid and let it go to sleep mode if I have nothing to do but that is also rare.

There have been times, when I have left my laptop running 24x7 to encode movies for a whole week or two at a stretch. Basically, my laptop is always running 24x7 with an occasional restart once a month.

Just get a decent cooling pad for your laptop like I did and it will stay cool even under heavy stress for prolonged periods. Don't forget, laptop's parts are built to withstand much much higher temperatures than your desktop components. As long as your CPU and GPU temps remain under 85-90C, your laptop is safe from overheating.

If you ask me, its better to keep your laptop running 24x7 than your desktop. Desktops consume too much power for 24x7 use.


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## xtremevicky (May 4, 2011)

Which cooling pad you have ?


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## nginx (May 4, 2011)

I have something like this, not the exact model but pretty close:
eBay India: Logitech Cooling Pad N100 for Notebook and Laptop N 100 (item 140497222718 end time 04-May-2011 20:24:17 IST)


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## rahul_c (May 4, 2011)

eagle06 said:


> follow this undervolting guide, it will increase your battery life and decrease your cpu temperatures  by atleast 5 C.
> 
> The "Undervolting" Guide


I don't require to drop the temperature further and I don't care about battery life.



			
				ithehappy said:
			
		

> But a Desktop consumes much more power than a Laptop, right?


Yes but now a days net-tops are available which consumes very less power and are really affordable. 



			
				nginx said:
			
		

> You guys are way too conservative and overprotective about your laptop. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about running a laptop 24x7. My laptop is 3 years old now and I never shut down my lappy, at best I close the lid and let it go to sleep mode if I have nothing to do but that is also rare.


Overprotective?  My laptop's exhaust was completely blocked and the hot air was circulating inside that's why my temperature was going up to 98 C! If I would haven't noticed it, it could have burned. Also earlier I was getting blue screens which are now automatically solved. Keeping computer in sleep mode doesn't mean it is on, it turns off most of the components(screen,HDD,etc).


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## ithehappy (May 4, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> Yes but now a days net-tops are available which consumes very less power and are really affordable.



You mean Netbooks right?


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## thetechfreak (May 4, 2011)

ithehappy said:


> You mean Netbooks right?



No.

They are super cheap , super low power consuming desktop.


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## rahul_c (May 4, 2011)

ithehappy said:


> You mean Netbooks right?


See this - Nettops: The Ultimate Cheap PC | Roundup | PCMag.com


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## nginx (May 4, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> Overprotective?  My laptop's exhaust was completely blocked and the hot air was circulating inside that's why my temperature was going up to 98 C! If I would haven't noticed it, it could have burned. Also earlier I was getting blue screens which are now automatically solved. Keeping computer in sleep mode doesn't mean it is on, it turns off most of the components(screen,HDD,etc).



Well running my laptop 24x7 doesn't mean I don't take good care of it. Of course you have to perform some amount maintenance once in a while or you can only blame yourself if your laptop vents get blocked and it blows up 

I use my vacuum cleaner's suction once a month to clear out the dust from the air vents. As I said before, I also use a good laptop cooling pad to keep things cool. Btw, I don't game much on my laptop, so temperature is always at safe levels.


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

nginx said:


> Well running my laptop 24x7 doesn't mean I don't take good care of it. Of course you have to perform some amount maintenance once in a while or you can only blame yourself if your laptop vents get blocked and it blows up
> 
> I use my vacuum cleaner's suction once a month to clear out the dust from the air vents. As I said before, I also use a good laptop cooling pad to keep things cool. Btw, I don't game much on my laptop, so temperature is always at safe levels.



Good to know you keep your laptop in check, how much difference does a cooling pad make? Which laptop do you have, and how is your battery performing?


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## thetechfreak (May 5, 2011)

Well, running a laptop 24x7 if doesnt damage anything, deeply damages the battery of the laptop. Thats for sure.


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> Well, running a laptop 24x7 if doesnt damage anything, deeply damages the battery of the laptop. Thats for sure.



Yes it does but nothing can't be done to avoid it, so get ready to buy new battery in every 2 yrs or so.


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## thetechfreak (May 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:
			
		

> Yes it does but nothing can't be done
> to avoid it, so get ready to buy new
> battery in every 2 yrs or so.


 But running  laptop via power through pc ups(without battery) will help wont it?


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> But running  laptop via power through pc ups(without battery) will help wont it?


Yes it will but I don't have a UPS, wait let's see what a 3 yrs 24x7 user nginx has to say about his battery life?


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

I found a awesome app to control fan speed of dell laptops it's I8K(google it), now I am able to reduce my CPU temperature ~47 C in battery mode and ~55 C in high performance mode.


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## xtremevicky (May 5, 2011)

Wow . Thanks for the Info . 

I have bookmarked this thread and will be really helpful for me in the coming months .


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## thetechfreak (May 5, 2011)

Thanks for posting the software Rahul


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:
			
		

> Thanks for posting the software Rahul




My pleasure.


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## nginx (May 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:


> Good to know you keep your laptop in check, how much difference does a cooling pad make? Which laptop do you have, and how is your battery performing?



Well a good cooling pad (not the crappy Rs.400 ones) makes quite a difference if you ask me. Dropped my average CPU temp by 5-10C and more importantly the laptop feels noticeably cooler. I got a cooling pad in the first place because my laptop used to get alarmingly hot during extended video encoding sessions but not anymore 

I have an HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop. Well the battery has gone to the dogs, barely gives 20 mins of backup now. But after 3 years that's expected. However, I always keep my laptop plugged in to the AC mains whether at home or at college, so it makes no difference to me. Besides, I have a massive inverter at home, so power failure isn't an issue.

If laptop battery is uber important to you, you must run the laptop without the battery while at home and then plug in it when you go outside.


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## thetechfreak (May 5, 2011)

Actually, for preservation of battery, the lappy should be run on battery after fully charged.
Charging should preferably done after lappy is switched off


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

nginx said:


> Well a good cooling pad (not the crappy Rs.400 ones) makes quite a difference if you ask me. Dropped my average CPU temp by 5-10C and more importantly the laptop feels noticeably cooler. I got a cooling pad in the first place because my laptop used to get alarmingly hot during extended video encoding sessions but not anymore
> 
> I have an HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop. Well the battery has gone to the dogs, barely gives 20 mins of backup now. But after 3 years that's expected. However, I always keep my laptop plugged in to the AC mains whether at home or at college, so it makes no difference to me. Besides, I have a massive inverter at home, so power failure isn't an issue.
> 
> If laptop battery is uber important to you, you must run the laptop without the battery while at home and then plug in it when you go outside.


Same here battery life doesn't matter, 5-10 C temperature drop do sounds good but I think 80 C during encoding videos (100% CPU usage) is fine. I tried running laptop without battery, but as already posted -


			
				rahul_c said:
			
		

> It has a downside when light goes laptop shuts even when inverter is present(there is 1-2 sec gap before the backup kicks in). So I started using it again as a UPS.



Now using I8k software I manually set fan speed to high during video encoding sessions (yes me too!) and it further reduced temperature to ~75 C. 

 Now all izz well with my laptop tempuratures! 



			
				theteachfreak said:
			
		

> Actually, for preservation of battery, the lappy should be run on battery after fully charged.Charging should preferably done after lappy is switched off


Running on battery part is correct but I don't think charging while using affects battery life cause we always do the same with our mobile phones, don't we?


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## nginx (May 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> Actually, for preservation of battery, the lappy should be run on battery after fully charged.
> Charging should preferably done after lappy is switched off



Charging after shutting off laptop makes absolutely no difference to the battery life. What kills the battery life span is mostly over-charging when the laptop is always connected to the AC mains.

To keep the battery in good shape, its necessary to discharge the battery down to around 20% (not full discharge) once a month and then recharge it. This is only necessary if you never let your battery discharge and always keep it plugged in.

But the best away to preserve the battery is to not use it at all and keep it in a cool area with around 40% charge.


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## thetechfreak (May 5, 2011)

rahul_c said:
			
		

> Running on battery part is correct but
> I don't think charging while using
> affects battery life cause we always do
> the same with our mobile phones,
> don't we?


 Then lets say, we run it in battery after charging is done.
Rather than keeping it plugged in.


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## rahul_c (May 5, 2011)

thetechfreak said:


> Then lets say, we run it in battery after charging is done. Rather than keeping it plugged in.


Yes, keeping laptop always plugged in (with battery attached) causes problems.



nginx said:


> To keep the battery in good shape, its necessary to discharge the battery down to around 20% (not full discharge) once a month and then recharge it. This is only necessary if you never let your battery discharge and always keep it plugged in.
> 
> But the best away to preserve the battery is to not use it at all and keep it in a cool area with around 40% charge.



I do discharge my battery ~ 10% several times a month.


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## rahul_c (May 9, 2011)

I kept my laptop on a book (this is what I'm using them for now a days ) this increases the space below intake vents. Result - temperature further reduced ~ 5 C!


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## thetechfreak (May 9, 2011)

Yeah, it always helps if you keep the laptop tilted. There are a few stands available to do this but why buy them if a book can do it


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