So basically this might sound stupid but I live in a cold area and my family is keeping the heat down this year to save costs. I have a laptop now, so I thought about stressing it out enough to generate heat. The only parts of my body that get cold while working on the computer are my hands, so I can just keep them by the heatsink. It is a core i7 which maxes out at 3.3ghz so I think it will take a lot to heat up. Are there any good programs which will perform useless calculations to heat up my cpu?

Isn't that not a great thing to do to a computer?

You really shouldn't, buy some gloves or a small heater instead as you have a good chance of burning up your computer ocmponents, but if your set on it video encoding is pretty cpu intensive and I also noticed that runescape actually brings my cpu temp up a good amount too.

I suggest that you do not attempt to use stress testing procedures for the purpose of warming you hands, as it can cause system crashes, automated shutdowns, physically damage components, or reduce the lifespan of computer components, in addition to the fact that you would slow your computer down for other purposes. instead I would suggest that you look into getting a decent incandescent or halogen desk lamp which should help with cold hands (do not use them constantly as that can cause some issues, such as halogen lights can give you sunburn if you use them too much.)

Wouldn't investing in a pair of gloves be the better investment rather than potentially wrecking your very, very expensive CPU?

Not to mention that it's an inefficient means to generate heat. You would be better off buying something specifically for that task.

my family is keeping the heat down this year to save costs.

 

The energy used to heat up your CPU enough for warmth is going to cost more than an actual heating device. Worst comes to worst, buy some thick blankets, gloves, socks, etc. Thick socks and a woolen hat do wonders.

I would recommend against it solely for heating, but BOINC is a nice program that lets you donate your cpu time to various scientific projects.

 

Really though, just grab a sweatshirt. A lot of the times that will be enough to warm up your hands even when you're not wearing gloves (My thermostat is generally 60 or a little under in the wintertime).

It depends on how cold it gets. Just use a blanket or a sweater or something.

seriously?...

 

Just buy a small heater or something.

As others said, it's not a good thing to heat up your CPU, as it lowers its life span and may make it break. Go buy some blankets or gloves or something.

 

If you still would rather break your CPU, as Georgelemmons said you can use BOINC, or Prime95. Just don't do it though.