Pushing a CPU to Heat Death, Intentionally

sdougal writes "This site is showing a Pico-ITX board running Ubuntu with no cooling whatsoever. They even let the public guess how long it would last: 'Last week thousands of you placed bets on how long the new Pico-ITX board from VIA, the VIA EPIA PX5000EG, can last without any cooling whatsoever. An ARTiGO Builder Kit was offered as the grand prize. Yesterday afternoon the voting stopped and the Naked Pico Challenge started in earnest. We simply loaded up Ubuntu 8.04, set it to work playing an mpeg-4 video and then removed the heatsink, leaving the CPU and VX700 chipset bare to the world. We recorded the event here in this video and set up a live video stream so you punters can keep a watchful eye on the PX5000EG as it works away.'"

The video

[nawcom]

They should make the mp4 hours of video of hardcore pornography, and we can all make bets on what the final frame that it shows before locking up and shutting down will be about. Blowjobs, anal, AtM, Bukkake, fem domination, tentacle sex, etc. It will bring more people to RTFA and WTFS (Watch The Fucking Stream).

Re:The video

[nawcom]

The title of TFA is, after all, "Naked Pico Challenge".

Re:The rule of thumb is....

[morgan_greywolf]

I predict a lot shorter now that the page with the video is linked on the Slashdot front page.! ;)

How about

[Phyrexicaid]

A server with all heat sinks removed, and then linked to on the front page of Slashdot. ;nspb Will it melt?

FUD Ammo...

[PinkyDead]

How long before we see this up on www.microsoft.com/getthefacts/ with the headline:

"Linux will set your computer on fire."

You have been warned.

I don't get what the big deal is...

[ramon_omar]

I mean, I can run for several hours without a heat sink or a fan.

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[tomhudson]

I ordered a Tunderbird 900mhz when they were "the big thing." The guy who was building it fried 6 CPUs and 4 motherboards before he figured out that it wasn't a good idea to bench-test them without a cpu fan. Helps to read the instructions ...

Another guy (who builds systems "on the side") asked me about one that he similarly toasted - it would boot, but wouldn't run Windows. I told him that he now had a very expensive dos-box, and to enjoy running the original Doom at 1.2 ghz.

Re:What's the point?

[somersault]

How long will that be though? 2 years? 3 years?

Re:I don't get what the big deal is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, you've got water cooling. The smelly kind...

Re:2 CPUs 1 Cooler?

[somersault]

ew... I can't quite see why anyone would ever want to watch that. I mean, I know some people are weird and would generally count myself as one of them.. but that video sounds almost as bad as having to judge your country's possible entries into the Eurovision song contest..

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you 'ork' a cow? And is it legal in your state or country?

Re:2 CPUs 1 Cooler?

[AshtangiMan]

But the kermit the frog reaction video has to be one of the funniest to come out of it.

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[sm62704]

I've had two CPUs die from heat death when their cooling fans became clogged with dust, cat hair and pot smoke. The latest box's motherboard has a thermometer hooked up so if it reaches a certain temperature the power will shut off.

It's gotten flakey lately when booting to Windows (although it boots to Linux flawlessly. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing to say about the respective OSes). The default is Windows, and it would reboot continually until Windows finally "caught" (unless I told LILO to go to Mandriva).

The other day I turned it on and went out for a beer; it's been the center of my living room stereo, with a few thousand MP3s ripped from my CDs, tapes, and LPs. When I got back it was shut completely off.

My house has no carpeting, so I'd loaned my vaccuum sweeper to a friend. I'll get the sweeper back before I open it up, but I'm wondering if the power suply fan is what gave out this time and fried the power supply, or the CPU fan gave out and fried the CPU, or if the temperature sensor had something to do with it.

When the CPU fans died in earlier incarnations, the lights would blink momentarily before going dark. They don't even do that now. I'm not making any bets, but if I were a betting man I'd bet the power supply is dead. In a quarter century of building and repeiring PCs I've never had a power supply die. Have any of you lost the power supply in a PC?

Re:The rule of thumb is....

[contrapunctus]

You don't need to know how thick it is? 'cause I guarantee this won't work with aluminum foil for example.

Re:I don't get what the big deal is...

[nasor]

For most slashdotters that *is* a big deal.

Re:"Heat Death"

[elrous0]

Well, if they're talking about that kind of heat death, I predict it will last at least 10^37 years.

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[frosty_tsm]

I've had two CPUs die from heat death when their cooling fans became clogged with dust, cat hair and pot smoke.

I'm not sure if this story should result in a LOL-cat or a computer-shaped bong...

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[mrchaotica]

I ordered a Tunderbird 900mhz when they were "the big thing." The guy who was building it fried 6 CPUs and 4 motherboards before he figured out that it wasn't a good idea to bench-test them without a cpu fan.

I built myself a 500MHz Athlon system back when they first came out, and a few years later I happened to have the case open and noticed that I had never plugged the fan in!

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[Vancorps]

I originally ran my 500mhz Athlon as well, after a few years the fan stopped working and I never noticed until a friend had a 650mhz that he wasn't using anymore and gave it to me. I used that 650 until last year and it still works great!

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[baggins2001]

I usually just put my tongue across the 26 connectors and turn the power on. If my penis doesn't tingle then the power supply is bad.

Re:Ehh, it's been done before

[fataugie]

No fuckin way!
That's fucking cool!

Fucking flames? Fuck me!

Good thing you didn't burn your fucking house down.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:The rule of thumb is....

[thefekete]

Aluminum foil is great for heat dissipation.

I have to agree, my head remains very cool during the summer months and I don't have to worry about the government stealing my thoughts either!