how do you run your cpu at max?

you dont really have to use 2 windows
1 is enough

just do
Yes > /dev/null &
Yes > /dev/null

adding the "&" starts it off in a seperate process,, you can kill the process when you've done your testing

1) Open the Applications folder (it's in Macintosh HD on your desktop)
2) Open the Utilities folder in there
3) Run the Terminal program
4) Type what was said above, which is:
yes > /dev/null
5) Open a new terminal window by pressing Command-N, or select File -> New Shell from the menus. Then type that command again in the new window:
yes > /dev/null

And press ENTER after each of those commands. This will max out your CPU. Do whatever tests you want after this. Once you're done maxing it out, just quit the terminal program with Terminal -> Quit.

I use the systemload app from http://www.bresink.de/osx/SystemLoad.html

The GUI let you adjust the load on one or both cores so you can slowly bring it up and see the results of the increasing load(s).

If you want to push the CPU harder you can do either one of these

echo 'scale=10000;4*a(1);' |time bc -l -q &

then up arrow to run it a second time. It calculates Pi to 10,000 decimal places.

Another alternative is to run

openssl speed &

then up arrow and run it a second time. This one does a series of speed calculations for the SSL library.

Both of these will run the CPU much harder than a simple yes >/dev/null and use more power and generate more heat.

yes > /dev/null
You have to do this in two different terminal windows.

What if you type only "yes" in one window ? I noticed that the processors also go to 100% but the palette shows half yelow and half green.

What's the difference?

Since it's a dual core processor, you need to run two things to use both cores, basically. 200% usage is actually the maximum.

mmascardi, if you actually look at the Activity Monitor list you will see that just using yes in one shell will not give you 200% usage even though it appears so in the dock.

please explain how to do this i am new to mac i own a macbook pro 2.0 ghz 256mb video card .thanks,blair

once you x out the terminal will it stop maxing out? or keep running very fast?

once you x out the terminal will it stop maxing out?
or keep running very fast?

As David wrote: quit the terminal to stop the max core duo

thanks for the info,blair

download handbrake and convert a dvd to mpeg4. that will tax you macbook use activity monitor to view cpu status and coreduo temp to view heat and cpu usage also.