I use a very old program called QPW (Quattro Pro) and it uses 51% of
the CPU (yes 51%, not 50% or 52%). I have a Core 2 Duo E6750, and most
of the stuff I use hardly reaches 10%, even AVI movies. I used the
Asus temp monitor utility and found that when the PC is idle the CPU
is at 32ºC (90ºF), for normal work it's around 34º to 36º (95ºF), and
with QPW it goes up to 42ºC (108ºF) and stays there. As soon as I
close QPW it quickly goes back down to 32ºC. The CPU fan speed always
hovers between 1950 and 1980 RPM in all of these different
temperatures. The motherboard temp is usually at 36ºC, and also
doesn't change.

These temps are ok with me, but what worries me is that this old QPW
program might be telling the CPU to do the same sequence over and
over, perhaps stressing certain section of it. I know nothing about
CPU architecture, so don't be surprised if what I just said doesn't
make any sense and I shouldn't be concerned about running this
software. I use QPW for about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe 3 or 4 days a
week. I also use Excel, but I just love the old QPW (version 1.0).

Here's a graph of the CPU usage. There are 2 windows for the CPU (I
guess that's why they call it a "Duo" CPU). Notice that the left
window averages about 42% CPU usage and the right window about 58%.

qpw...@hushmail.com wrote:

OOps, here it is:

http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?i...ore2duoja1.gif

<qpwmax@hushmail.com> wrote in message
news:4fd93802-8c98-475d-917e-db35decee216@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
I use a very old program called QPW (Quattro Pro) and it uses 51% of
the CPU (yes 51%, not 50% or 52%). I have a Core 2 Duo E6750, and most
of the stuff I use hardly reaches 10%, even AVI movies. I used the
Asus temp monitor utility and found that when the PC is idle the CPU
is at 32ºC (90ºF), for normal work it's around 34º to 36º (95ºF), and
with QPW it goes up to 42ºC (108ºF) and stays there. As soon as I
close QPW it quickly goes back down to 32ºC. The CPU fan speed always
hovers between 1950 and 1980 RPM in all of these different
temperatures. The motherboard temp is usually at 36ºC, and also
doesn't change.

These temps are ok with me, but what worries me is that this old QPW
program might be telling the CPU to do the same sequence over and
over, perhaps stressing certain section of it. I know nothing about
CPU architecture, so don't be surprised if what I just said doesn't
make any sense and I shouldn't be concerned about running this
software. I use QPW for about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe 3 or 4 days a
week. I also use Excel, but I just love the old QPW (version 1.0).

Here's a graph of the CPU usage. There are 2 windows for the CPU (I
guess that's why they call it a "Duo" CPU). Notice that the left
window averages about 42% CPU usage and the right window about 58%.


Though 51% cpu usage may be a bit high...
it will not damage your CPU (assuming it's cooled properly)

Last year I did a major project in Publisher and my CPU stayed pretty well
pegged in the 90%+ area for many hours a day...
the project took a few months and the CPU survived just fine!

On Wed, 21 May 2008 11:05:55 -0700 (PDT), qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:

Back in the day, software was often written with "busy wait" loops
rather than being multi-tasking friendly and releasing itself to wait
on an event trigger from the operating system. I'd bet that the
original Quattro Pro for Windows was just a quick'n'dirty port of the
earlier DOS version where there *was* no multi-tasking operating
system and a running app would just assume that it owned all of the
machine's resources.

As long as the CPU's temperatures stay within the manufacturer's
recommended limits, you're okay. You won't "wear out" any of the CPU's
silicon. All it's probably doing is repeatedly polling the keyboard,
waiting for you to type something.

I was a fan of Borland's DOS-based Quattro too. Used to use it as a
drawing program for flowcharts and suchlike. Worked great! '-)

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:
You're fine.

You might be able to get the application to simmer down by running in
"Compatibility Mode." Get the property sheet for the program file, and
you'll see a "Compatibility" tab. Pick Windows 95, or whatever seems to
help.

qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:
Not a problem. All 8 of the PCs in my joint run flat-out 24x7.
As long as the temps are OK, you won't harm your CPU by driving it hard;
this PC's CPU temp runs much higher than yours, with no problem.

{FWIW, when my CPU temp gets close to 65°C under full load, then I
clean the case: fans & filters & heatsinks. After cleaning, the CPU
temp drops ~10°C.}
--
Cheers, Bob

<qpwmax@hushmail.com> wrote in message
news:4fd93802-8c98-475d-917e-db35decee216@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
I use a very old program called QPW (Quattro Pro) and it uses 51% of
the CPU (yes 51%, not 50% or 52%). I have a Core 2 Duo E6750, and most
of the stuff I use hardly reaches 10%, even AVI movies. I used the
Asus temp monitor utility and found that when the PC is idle the CPU
is at 32ºC (90ºF), for normal work it's around 34º to 36º (95ºF), and
with QPW it goes up to 42ºC (108ºF) and stays there. As soon as I
close QPW it quickly goes back down to 32ºC. The CPU fan speed always
hovers between 1950 and 1980 RPM in all of these different
temperatures. The motherboard temp is usually at 36ºC, and also
doesn't change.

These temps are ok with me, but what worries me is that this old QPW
program might be telling the CPU to do the same sequence over and
over, perhaps stressing certain section of it. I know nothing about
CPU architecture, so don't be surprised if what I just said doesn't
make any sense and I shouldn't be concerned about running this
software. I use QPW for about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe 3 or 4 days a
week. I also use Excel, but I just love the old QPW (version 1.0).

Here's a graph of the CPU usage. There are 2 windows for the CPU (I
guess that's why they call it a "Duo" CPU). Notice that the left
window averages about 42% CPU usage and the right window about 58%.

-------

If you run XP you can see the same thing today.

Run Spider Solitaire, win a game, when the fireworks start and you have a
question box - say no to a new game and look at a CPU usage meter, it will
jump up to the 50% range on a dual cpu unit. Past 90% on a single cpu.

Drives me nuts.

William

Rich Webb wrote:
The other thing old DOS software (we may talking very old here so maybe
not QP4W) may do is to run some delay loops to catch the vertical sync
of the monitor refresh before transfering memory stored graphic info to
the screen. These 'snow' avoidance schemes made glitch free graphics
operation possible on the original PC's but needlessly kills the
performance of newer graphics hardware if left enabled. Check what the
graphics driver is set to and if there are any anti snow settings.

--
Adrian C

On Wed, 21 May 2008 20:52:48 +0100, Adrian C <email@here.invalid>
wrote:

Woah! I'd forgotten about those settings. They disappeared even before
the "turbo" switches.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

On Wed, 21 May 2008 11:05:55 -0700, qpwmax thoughfully wrote:

Although spreadsheets are processing hogs, that usage does seem high.
Have you tried running multiple programs with QPW and checking cpu
usage?

Also, QPW was Borland?, bought by Wordperfect, bought by Corel??? Why
not upgrade to Wordperfect 11 which includes QP 11 for about 20USD?

"Bob Willard" <BobwBSGS@TrashThis.comcast.net> wrote in message
news:PZ6dnSzqNLf176nVnZ2dnUVZ_qninZ2d@comcast.com. ..
Hell, I noticed my processor was running warm lately... took off the fan:
totally caked up with dust! This room is *dusty*.

Tim

--
Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk.
Website @ http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms

On May 21, 11:23*am, Rich Webb <bbew...@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote:
The hottest operation I ever found for DOS 3.1 was waiting at the C:\>
prompt for input.

qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:
PCDOS7.0, etc).
Since you run it in a Gooie, that Gooie probably is extending
effective RAM for the spreadsheet array(s) and the addressing done by
QPW is being "interpreted" or "reflected" or "translated" to the space
that the Gooie made for it.
I do know for a fact that a Gooie will allow more memory to be used
by a DOS program, if that program is created to use memory above
"conventional" memory, and most epecially beyond the DOS 1Meg "barrier".

Rich Webb wrote:

Too bad that Corel screwed up their X3 office version.

qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:
Sounds like QPW has a tight loop polling the keyboard or something
similar that causes the CPU to run a bit warm. I routinely run my system
with at least 50% utilisation - the spare CPU annotating chess games.
Apart from a slight increase in fan noise there are no ill effects.
I have never known executing software able to destroy a CPU, I have once
known a particular sequence typed at a keyboard that would reprogram the
dynamic ram timing on a specific model of home computer frying the chips.
A decent system should be able to handle 100% utilisation and whilst it
will be noisier and warmer when run flat out it should not fail unless
some components are poorly specified. I might worry about the quality of
the fans or dust caking on the filters if the CPU got to be above 50C.

Regards,
Martin Brown
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Some spreadsheet software constantly calculates and updates the entire
spreadsheet. Even QPW ver. 5 for windows will cause 100% CPU usage
(this is the first win3.1 version of QPW I believe, which I loved and
used for many years). I just fiddled with it for a minute, and could
not get CPU usage to drop from 100% even after changing the
calculation settings from Auto to Background to Manual. Your system
can handle the load, don't fret it.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
<qpwmax@hushmail.com> wrote in message
news:4fd93802-8c98-475d-917e-db35decee216@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
I use a very old program called QPW (Quattro Pro) and it uses 51% of
the CPU (yes 51%, not 50% or 52%). I have a Core 2 Duo E6750, and most
of the stuff I use hardly reaches 10%, even AVI movies. I used the
Asus temp monitor utility and found that when the PC is idle the CPU
is at 32ºC (90ºF), for normal work it's around 34º to 36º (95ºF), and
with QPW it goes up to 42ºC (108ºF) and stays there. As soon as I
close QPW it quickly goes back down to 32ºC. The CPU fan speed always
hovers between 1950 and 1980 RPM in all of these different
temperatures. The motherboard temp is usually at 36ºC, and also
doesn't change.

These temps are ok with me, but what worries me is that this old QPW
program might be telling the CPU to do the same sequence over and
over, perhaps stressing certain section of it. I know nothing about
CPU architecture, so don't be surprised if what I just said doesn't
make any sense and I shouldn't be concerned about running this
software. I use QPW for about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe 3 or 4 days a
week. I also use Excel, but I just love the old QPW (version 1.0).

Here's a graph of the CPU usage. There are 2 windows for the CPU (I
guess that's why they call it a "Duo" CPU). Notice that the left
window averages about 42% CPU usage and the right window about 58%.

On Wed, 21 May 2008 11:05:55 -0700 (PDT),
qpwmax@hushmail.com wrote:


It's not a problem, a properly designed computer can run at
100% load indefinitely... just make sure that as time goes
by you aren't letting your case intake/exhaust vents or
heatsinks/fans get clogged with dust.

42C temp is plenty low enough, there are systems out there
that don't run any cooler at idle and even higher under
load.