Author: Stephen Ham
Date: 11:41:57 03/28/02
Dear Experts, Here's my question. I'm ignorant about computer hardware/software and so rely upon the advice of others (that's where you come in!). I've heard strong arguements regarding leaving computers running versus turning them off. Usually the debate centers upon the effects of wear/tear caused by constant rebooting to the life of the computer. Therefore I've followed the advice of some and just left my computer running 24-hours day (I've seen little change in my electric bill). Given that it's running when I'm sleeping and at work, it makes sense to have my chess engine looking at positions during that time. However, last night I read the ChessBase T-Notes for March 10, 2002 Here's a copy: "It's just physics -- the longer a processor runs, the more it heats up and the less efficient it becomes. Your program will play better chess right after you turn your computer on than it will after the machine's been running for hours or even days. I can prove this by using a competitor's chess program that provides "personalities" to play against and assigns ratings to these imaginary opponents based on your hardware and its performance. I can turn on my computer, launch the program, and check a personality's rating, then let the computer run for 12 hours, launch the program again, check the rating a second time, and see that it's dropped by anywhere from three to ten points. If you're in the habit of letting your machine run for days at a time, turn it off once in a while to let the processor cool down. You'll get better chess performance on a machine with a cooler processor than from one that you can toast weenies over." So here's my question, is this really true? I've never read/heard this before. If true, I guess I'd better turn my machine off and only turn it on when needed. Do you experts have any opinions/facts on this topic. If so, please share. Thanks in advance. Stephen Ham
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