While my previous posts were based upon biological problems. I wanted to mention a problem on my mind. Purchasing a laptop. I decided to purchase an AMD based laptop over an intel based laptop due to its superior price performance. After researching, I've found that AMD's larger 45 nm technology is not as good as intels. While I'm in no way a computer engineer the benchmarks typically give the price point performance to the AMD. A major draw back to the 45 nm AMD technology versus the newer 39 nm Intel technology is the energy used. There is also a difference in the size of the onboard L1 and L2 cache with double the amount on most intel chips. Computer technology has not had many advances outside of multiple cores. As the gigahertz increase the energy usage is dramatically increased. With this energy crisis comes a heat concern. While on a normal desktop the heat rarely approaches the typical ~70 degrees Celsius. Laptops on the other hand are notorious for having poor ability to dissipate heat. Analyzing my new laptop has revealed a lot of flaws in my system.
I purchased my laptop 3 months ago. An HP designed AMD quad core 2.1ghz processor w/ 6GB RAM and 640gb hd @7200 rpm w/ 1gb Radeon 5650 video card. I figured the quad core 2.1ghz could easily over power a duo core intel i5 even if the i5 uses threads better. It took a fellow classmates computer failure to change my mind. The classmate used her AMD quad core day and night to process genetic data. She said it was common for her 1 y/o computer of similar stats to be run 4 out of 7 days round the clock. I decided to monitor the temperatures of my processor. Its been said that there are very little differences in the AMD mobile chip version (Intel typically has completely different designs for mobile chips). While my desktop AMD six core typically does not go beyond the 34-44 degree Celsius range, the laptop idles in the high 50's and sometimes reaches into the 70-71 area. The idea of melting a chip is disheartening at best. Does the chip only reach temps in the low 70's because its designed for raw power and heat is secondary? A freeware based tool addressed this issue, and I found that the bios was decreasing the energy to stop a meltdown. The reality was that my cores were not running at near capacity. The cores were running around 900-1000g each, roughly 50% capacity. I was astonished. Intel has reportedly not had these problems. I thought of solutions. A chill pad? Well the heat is dissipated through the far left area near the edge of the computer. A chill pad will not even be near the hot area. A fan pad would be equally ineffective. Unlike a desktop computer, I can't utilize a large aftermarket heatsink couple with an enormous fan, or set of fans in the case. It also leaves liquid cooling out of the picture. It's been too long to return the laptop. Reselling has ethical issues. It also functions well, but it is better for shorter durations. I decided on building a pc. While I admit to liking my pc, and the ability to have an ergonomic system that does not require my hands to be in a tight space combined to the constant stooping over the monitor designed for a strange little person. Unfortunately I'm disappointed that more internet reviewers have not analyzed the ability to dissipate heat with the ability of the processor to function properly. It reminds me of a Ferrari in a school zone. I plan on doing more research to see if this issue is simply a poor HP design or the fact that AMD processors are best left out of laptops due to their inability to maintain safe operating temperatures. I hope this helps for any future laptop purchases.
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