Should I buy a new computer?

[frank]

Well on the outside my toshiba doesn't much hotter than 110F on its hottest point (the bottom next to the memory). The processor (Core 2 Duo T5200) runs at between 115F - 120F when doing simple stuff like surfing the internet, but I have seen it get up to 145F before. Much hotter than it would be in a desktop. Yeah sticking all of these super hot things in the same location has got to be bad, but I heard that it doesn't really matter how hot something gets as long as it stays at that temperature. The real damage comes from going from hot to cold over and over.

[Alboin]

Somewhat related, but not really, is my previous video card. (I use a desktop PC.) It was an nvidia AGP card with a fan. For a while (~1 year) the fan seemed to turn on at random. (It would make a semi-loud buzzing noise.) Then, all of a sudden, it stopped doing it. At this point I had forgotten all about it.

Then I started using Beryl. This pushed it over the edge. My monitors just started to stop at random. They turned plaid and died. At first this was every few weeks or so. Then, it became more common. (~once a week) Eventually I couldn't even turn on my computer.

I began to wonder what the problem was. I eventually arrived at the idea that the fan was shot. After removing the card and examining it, I found that the fan, which couldn't have cost more than $.50 to make, was jammed into a diagonal position filled with gunk.

My new card uses a heat sink instead of a fan.

So, the lesson of the story is that heat will hurt things.

[Kevin McGuire]

I think this is neat, because it shows that:

• Different CPU's react differently to overheating.
• Some include protection mechanisms that slow them down, or turn them off.
• Some just start melting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsqGyLH-foQ