I'm the proud owner of a new 21.5" Quad Core iMac. And I've run BOINC almost 24/7 on pretty much every computer I've had for years. I'm wondering if there are any BOINC users with a similar Quad Core iMac, because I notice it gets very, very hot to the touch when running BOINC on all four cores. The CPU reports temperatures of upwards of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've had to use fan control software to kick up the fans a notch to cool it down to what I am more comfortable with. I have never had a flat panel iMac and certainly not a quad core before and I'm wondering if its advisable to run BOINC at 100% with these temperatures.

Normally it isn't harmful if the computer runs the CPU cores at that high a heat. But if you don't trust it, you can tell BOINC to use less cores, by adjusting the "On multiprocessors, use at most xx% of the processors". Set it to 50% for instance to only use 2 cores.

You don't say if you run Windows or OS X on that system. But if it's Windows, you can also turn to the third party Tthrottle.

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Thanks for your reply, Ageless.

I am running Mac OS X. I've heard it say that those temps are all right, but I worry about the long-term effect on the hardware over the years. As I said, I am using fan control software to lower the temperature. I'd like BOINC to take advantage of all cores, but will take your advise if I notice it gets too hot again.