cpu life span

[mdsaint3]

does overclocking.. by simply adjusting the fsb from 133 to 140 on my athlon xp 1800 ... shorten the life span of my cpu???? temp is around 45 deg max ..no aircon... but with aircon.. around 39 deg...

[JimmyG]

Not neccesarily!. Overclocking will create more heat which can increase the speed of molecule migrations that eventually will do in the CPU/RAM/MOBO, but depending on the luck of the draw of parts, it may never die.

[john240sx]

overclocking apparently is supposed to shorten the life span of a processor, but how long are you going to run the same proc? the life span of the current processors is what, 8-12 months anyway? (before you want to upgrade) if your going to have the same chip for a few years i wouldn't run it as hard as it can go but if you upgrade alot (as most of us do) then crank it up as high as it can go.......then a little higher :D

[DaddyB]

I dont think overclocking is really the issue, the higher the overclock the more Voltage you need to feed the cpu and I think that is what can harm it if you run it like that for a long time.

nobody can really give a definative answer though because there is no way to know how long the cpu will last, so there is no way to know how many hours/days overclocking will take away from your cpu. I mean some people just use there computers normally and never overclock and their cpus die on them, while others overclock as high as they can and their cpu lasts for as long use that comp.

heat is definetly bad for the cpu (and adding voltage adds more heat). I leave my comps on 24/7 and I *think* turning them on and off does more harm then running them all the time. when you turn it on the voltages spike and the cpu's temp goes from room temp to 45c (or whatever you run at).

Its more or less luck of the draw. I think way more CPUs have died from stupid mistakes and carelessness then have died from OCing. as long as you keep your temps below 50c at all times and are very careful not to chip the core when you put a new heatsink on then your cpu will probably last for as long as you use your comp, regardless of if it is OC'd or not... if my cpu died right now I'd blame AMD not OCing.

[mdsaint3]

thnks

[elitemetalx]

if you overclock, you probably only need the cpu for a maximum of 1 year right?