I've been running BOINC on my laptop for about 2 weeks now. Just today I DLed "SpeedFan," a temperature monitoring tool, and it says my CPU is running at 64C (147F). I've read that most CPUs should be kept below 60C. Should I be concerned? My laptop is an intel core duo, so i was thinking that maybe those numbers (60C) were out of date. Or should I turn down BOINC a bit?

You should search on Internet what is the maximum temperature for your CPU. My Pentium IV 3.0GHz apparently allows up to 75°C (and in the page where it said that, there was another model with max 80°C).

If you want to lower your CPU temperature, have a look at "Use only X% of the processor" setting (available since BOINC 5.8).

IT is quite common with laptos for dust to collect in the fan/heatsink duct. Just use a car of air to blow it out, or a compressor (but not to high a pressue) and see if that helps.

Oh, yes. Dusting off my lappy once a month is a real duty.

With doing so I keep my CPU temps at about 55 °C/131 °F (it's a P4 3.2 GHz) which is quite ok for BOINCing 24/7.

Yep, make sure to clean your laptop regularly before it starts looking like this.

Thanks guys. I did look it up, and, according to the Intel website, it'll be safe up to 100C, which seems somewhat absurd. Anyway, if Intel claims 100C is ok, then I'm not very worried about mine running at 65C. I'll definitely give that canned air trick a try, though.

You sure it wasn't 100F?

Anyway, if Intel claims 100C is OK, and your CPU explodes by reaching 70C, you might be covered by warranty (that is, you could blame them).

Yeah, I'm not sure if I believe it either, but that's what the website says, unless I'm interpreting it wrong:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL8VQ
See "Thermal Specification."

I've been running BOINC for a few weeks on my laptop (CoreDuo T2300, which Intel states the Thermal Specification is 100C); according to SpeedFan, the temperature of the two cores average at around 80C (which is VERY HIGH). I turned it off because I was worried that it would ruin my CPU.

Should I continue to run BOINC on my laptop if the temperatures will reach this level again?

P.S. I live near the equator and the room temperature is quite high (at LEAST 32C during the day, a little lower at night)..so I guess this contributes to the overall high temperature.

Try using the "new" tool in Boinc and use less than 100% to get lower temp.
In General preferences look for "Use at most CPU" and try it out.

Anders n

Well i'm running boinc 24/7 for the past 10 weeks on my labtop.

A M735A Centrino 1.73 GHz with 512Mb. 100% workload.

I have no heat issues with the labtop so far.

Laptops have poorer heat circulation than desktops, so you have to be careful about running one at full load for long periods. Make sure you give plenty of room for air circulation around the case. I keep a laptop cooling pad which helps a bit.

BOINC's CPU limiting feature works if you have version 5.8.x of the client.