Folding on a laptop

[GionnyBanana]

Hi all!

I joined the LTT folding team and I want to contribute, but I was wondering if it's wise to use my laptop to fold?

It is a late 2016 razer blade with a gtx 1060, so my doubts do not spawn from its computational power, but from the thermals.

Is it ok to keep it under load all day long? What can I expect to happen if I keep at it for a week, a month, several months?

Thank you and happy folding!

[Lo-teq]

The folding software does contain options to run it at a lower "folding power", i havnt used these options myself as i just bang it up to full but personally i would keep an eye on your temps and see which power level keeps them at a reasonable level.

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, GionnyBanana said:

use my laptop to fold

It's a piece of cake, just close the lid. 

[Srijan Verma]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

It's a piece of cake, just close the lid. 

gr8 advice

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

It's a piece of cake, just close the lid. 

I'm upset about laughing at this as hard as I did.

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Den-Fi said:

I'm upset about laughing at this as hard as I did.

It was a cheap joke, and I"m surprised I was the 1st to say it.

[GionnyBanana]

You can't avoid laughing at a classic joke

Thanks for the advice @Lo-teq! I will try that

[minibois]

If I were you, I would just fold on the GPU only and just turn down the CPU's power level in XTU (assuming you have an Intel CPU).

That way it doesn't run that hot/loud.

 

But if you're going to run F@H 24/7, expect to have to replace the past earlier. Personally I have my laptop propped up on some items, so it at least has unrestricted access to air. But even so, I only fold on it in rare occasions (like a Folding event).

[GionnyBanana]

That sounds like a good idea, thanks! I will keep updated on the upcoming events.

[maartendc]

On 4/1/2020 at 5:52 PM, GionnyBanana said:

That sounds like a good idea, thanks! I will keep updated on the upcoming events.

I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I decided against it for this reason:

 

If your laptop is running hot 24/7, it will put strain on the battery. Lithium-ion batteries hate heat, and their 'wear level' increases if they get too hot. The cooler they stay, the better. IF your laptop battery is not easily replaceable, you might not want to do it.

 

If you do fold on your laptop, keep your temperatures as low as possible. Either by manually cranking up the fan, or decreasing the voltages / clocks of your GPU / CPU (or both). Also note that cranking the fans will theoretically decrease its lifespan (although in real world, you are likely to replace the laptop before the fans ever die).

[kartonrealista]

On 4/3/2020 at 1:37 PM, maartendc said:

I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I decided against it for this reason:

 

If your laptop is running hot 24/7, it will put strain on the battery. Lithium-ion batteries hate heat, and their 'wear level' increases if they get too hot. The cooler they stay, the better. IF your laptop battery is not easily replaceable, you might not want to do it.

 

If you do fold on your laptop, keep your temperatures as low as possible. Either by manually cranking up the fan, or decreasing the voltages / clocks of your GPU / CPU (or both). Also note that cranking the fans will theoretically decrease its lifespan (although in real world, you are likely to replace the laptop before the fans ever die).

I haven't used a new laptop in a while, but can't you just pull out the battery and run with the charger plugged in? Excuse my ignorance if I said something stupid, it was possible on my older laptop.

[maartendc]

21 minutes ago, kartonrealista said:

I haven't used a new laptop in a while, but can't you just pull out the battery and run with the charger plugged in? Excuse my ignorance if I said something stupid, it was possible on my older laptop.

I am not sure if you can run it without the battery inside (possibly yes?), but it is true that on many older laptops the battery is removable.

 

More and more however, especially with thin and light laptops, the battery is not user replaceable, and is glued to the frame of the laptop. Even if this is not the case, with most newer laptops you have to remove the case (with screwdriver) to get to the battery. With older laptops, you could just pop it out the back with a latch.