tadream

I got mine in March last year and the VCS has become the PC I use the most at home. I have more powerful computers but the VCS is just more fun. I couldn't stand the incessant fan ramp up / ramp down so the first week I had the VCSI replaced the thermal pad and also did the regular upgrade stuff (32Gb RAM, internal SSD). Temps went down by about 10℃, but that didn't stop that awful fan noise when CPU temps reached ~90℃. It was some time after when the first BIOS password became public and disabling CPU BOOST put an end to the fan noise in my case. I later read about the echo "0" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost command line so I turned CPU BOOST back on in the BIOS and now use the mentioned command line when I do stuff that puts such load on the CPU that the fan has to ramp up. This of course reduces the CPU frequency to 2500Hz or so, but does not really hurt the performance. If I should need that small performance gain, I use the echo "1" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost command line and live with the fan noise. Now in my case, CPU BOOST isn't really needed, even when using a Virtualbox Windows, GIMP and a browser session with 20-30 open tabs, VPN and internet radio simultaneously. This also means, I've never ever experienced the incessant fan ramp up / ramp down with CPU BOOST disabled even when using Geekbench to do some stress test. Oh yes, one more thing. I was thrilled to learn about your paper clip method in the very beginning, but never had to resort to using it thanks to the BIOS passwords that became public over time.

The VCS is great. As for fan noise there actually is an easy fix. Disabling core boost in BIOS is a solution, there won't be any fan ramp up / ramp down. As a result, CPU frequency will not exceed 2600Mhz, but you won't really notice significant performance loss. CPU temperatures also won't reach highs above ~65-70C. If you're not comfortable with BIOS settings, you can under Linux (in terminal) use: echo "0" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost to disable core boost, or echo "1" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost to enable it. Or you can use the app cpupower-gui to switch CPU frequency governors to some extent. In Windows you need to configure it in power settings. Hope this helps!

Vote submitted from Hungary. Atari VCS 800 Walnut, Indiegogo backer.

I'm on linux, core enhancement disabled, fan left on automatic in BIOS, CPU governor set to performance in linux. Have Brave browser open, listening to podcast and have 22 tabs auto reloading. CPU temp is 55-67 C.

Without antivirus you won't even know your XP is infected until disaster happens. It's a digging your head in the sand kind of security, good luck

Use a VPN or a VPN extension in your browser (Opera has it built in) and select a country of choice to make your location appear as that to circumvent the denial of access from the US. You'll then be able to download the necessary file(s).

More than a reference, it's a tribute to Tangerine Dream, thanks for noting!