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Thread: leaving computer on

  1. #21
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    I've run a bunch of diffrent OS. Such as RedHat, Mandrake, Suse, Win95, Win98, Win2K. I have to say they all do about the same. I don't think the OS has as much to do with uptime as what applications you have installed (and running). Obviously the more you have going on inside your machine, the more likely something is to go wrong. The only benefit I can see with a *nix machine is that you really only need to reboot for hardware changes or power outages. As far as overheating, as long as you have ample cooling fans, or some other cooling system ( a friend built a mini-frig into a case) overheating should not be much of a problem.

    DeafLamb

  2. #22
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    All of the computers I mentioned in my prior post (over 500 days up) are built to telcom spec for relaible systems as far as cooling is concerned. That is to say they have no fans at all, just still air cooling. Finding still air power supplies can be a bit of a chore but as far as CPUs go, first pick a cool chip. I prefer the Pentium 2 Xeon 450 with 2mb of L2. Next you need to get some thermal epoxy on there between it and the heatsink. After this is done you want to create a chimney effect, I prefer to use sheets of copper which is painted black on the areas where you want to heat to radiate from and white where you want it to go. Also this is used to pull heat off the whole board, not just the CPUs. Heat sinks on high revving drives are important as well (I am a big cheeta fan.)

    For heatsinks, I see a lot of multi colored, white, silver, etc... avoid these like the plauge! If you don't know why, google for "black body radiation"

    catch

  3. #23
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    Re: leaving computer on

    Originally posted here by h3r3tic
    I am running apache on my redhat 9 box.
    I know that on my windows computer I generally have to restart it about once a day due to applications screwing up.
    What is everyones experience with linux and leaving your computer running for extended periods of time?
    Do you think it is alright?
    If not, how often would you do a fresh reboot?
    thanks
    That's a great question, one that I asked myself before stepping up to linux.
    First not only is it better for your computer to leave it running all the time. But linux is far from the crap that microsoft produces, crashing everyday, and having to reboot everytime you do something.

    Linux is rock solid, as it takes after it's daddy Unix,lol. Linux is flexible and won't crash on you outta no where. If you intend to run a website from your linux box, it shouldn't be a problem. You can get months even years of uptime (if your hardware doesn't crap out first) from *nix operating systems.

    As a matter of fact, the only time I ever reboot, is for adding hardware, or when a new kernel comes out, so I can update mine, and that's just about once a month. And I reboot it during off peak hours, so no one will even notice.

    I once read a news story about a University that was auditing their network and couldn't locate a machine that was showing up on their network. After frustration for not being able to find the system, they decided to follow the network cable and it led, them right to a wall. Seeing no other way to follow the cable, they broke the wall and came realized that the machine was actually in a room that had been closed sealed off by dry wall. The machine was running *nix and was up for 3 years.


    --PuRe
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  4. #24
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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    http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html

    Lil more than 3 years on there. As for an AMd, 3 fans would be good. Also, keeping the room its in cool can help a bit too. I dont like much heat anyway so it works out fine.

    Right now:

    Uptime: 8 days 18 hours 32 minutes 58 seconds.

  5. #25
    Senior Member deftones12's Avatar
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    catch...what exactly black radiation? I searched google and all i found were stuff on the heat and radiation which i kinda understood but then they went to formulas which i only knew like 2 symbols of...is it dangerous or something?

  6. #26
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    No no... blackbody radiation is not dangerous, well I mean it could be in high enough doses but it would just cook you.

    A blackbody is one that reflects no radiation, when I was last in physics class no perfect black bodies had been discovered but some materials are very efficient. Essentially this object absobs all radiation directed at it and radiates black body radiation.

    The heat sink takes another concept of surface area in mind, you want as close to a perfectly even point of contact betwen the heat object and the heatsink, as this enables the most efficent transfer of energy. Thermal epoxy is excellent for this. On the other side of the heat sink you have cooling fins, this allows for more surface area for the blackbody radition to well radiate.

    This effectively allows you to pull heat from the source (rather than white for example which would radiate the heat back to the source) and direct it away from the source. Fans simply compensate for space, they enable a smaller heatsing becase the moving air effectively increases the surface area (the fins touch more total air)

    If this is not 100% correct, please excuse me, I am not a physist... and it has been many years since my last class, but the overall concept should be basically correct.

    catch

  7. #27
    Senior Member deftones12's Avatar
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    ok i understood the absorbing part but i thought u meant it was harmful like puttin out exessive amounts of radiation. I think thats why black absorbs more heat/sun than white. Some of the pages were just fun to stare at will all the formulas and scientific explanations...haha good page to have up when people r lookin at what ur readin...thinkin ur smart and all lol. Thanx for the explanation catch.

  8. #28
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    hey PuReExTacy,
    I liked your story about the computer in the wall.
    I've had my server up for almost two days now and it is still running well.
    I have two of the exact same computers both running redhat 9.
    one has 128 mb of ram and the other 384 mb(this is the server machine).
    It's amazing how much faster things load on the machine with more ram.
    I have jbuilder 9 installed on the 128 mb ram comp and it takes like five minutes to load.
    I am scared to put it on my server machine because it is running well and I don't want to screw it up.
    This thread just keeps getting more and more interesting. I am anxious to see how long this lasts.
    Keep um coming.

    Edit

    Hey I just noticed that I am now an Antionline Jr. Member.
    Also, I could have sworn I saw a member with over 200 posts and a load of antipoints classified as an antionline newbie. Was I dreaming or has someone else seen this member. I don't remember his username. I was probably just halucinating(spelling?).

  9. #29
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    hey thanx for "tips" about cooling.
    nice story about the server behind the wall.
    i bought 2 new coolers yeasterday and i put them into my box. ugly work... my old one's fans are looking like they would be already dead. i also found a "tube" made of aluminium and combined them together (one cooler is attached into the carcass and other is on the CPU and there is that "tube" linked bitween them. the air from whole mainboard is blown away with the power block's cooler). everything looks terrible, but now the air in the box is absolutely cold!!! after 8 hours of uptime it is completely "fresh".
    but i have one question: what is the posibility that totaly new cooler will broke down?

    that's it for now. sorry for my spelling... i'm lithuanian
    good luck in cooling!
    for som\' **** from lithuania

  10. #30
    Well i know with my system since the day i brought it, about 8 months, ago it has only been rebooted when i install knew software,
    Other then that it has not been turned of.
    And it's just got the stock fan,
    I don't know if this is healthy for a computer?
    And it's runnin windowz 98, two hard drives, a Cdrom, DVD Rom, CD Burner, and a few other goodies, and i sometimes put my hand on the back of the box were the fan is and the air is always nice and cold.
    And i was talking to this chappy at this computer shop, and i told him that i never turned my computer off, and he looked shocked !
    So is this bad?

    Anyhow cheers.
    And hope this thread keeps going, it's some real good reading.

    Oh yeah i forgot.
    h3r3tic: Yeah i''ve seen that person that you talked about.

    Apparently he cracked some password and gained access and fiddled with he's points and stuff,

    But he is around here somewere.

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