Can CPUs die of "old age"?

Culbrelai · May 9, 2014

You know, like how other parts can just die from old age. I know they can be killed with crazy voltages, but I have never had a CPU die of just being old. I know electrical resistance kills computer parts eventually, but does it apply to CPUs as well? Or do they last so long they become obsolete before they ever die of old age?

ATMINSIDE · May 9, 2014

They can degrade to the point of non-operation, yes.

At stock values, they would most likely be unsupported before this happens though.

Bobnova · May 9, 2014

Yeah they will eventually die.
With some exceptions (the 5GHz AMD parts maybe, as they're already fairly heavily overclocked/volted. EVGA GTX5xx GPUs sometimes as they're run at barely stable specs sometimes) you're looking at a few decades before anything happens.

machausta · May 9, 2014

I have a 386 DX/40 running some ancient version of redhat at grandma's house and its been running constantly since the mid 1990s. It uses IP chains instead of IP tables, if this tells you anything...

Maybe redhat 6?

Its been the firewall/router since that time and its still going strong, so this tells you how long processors last.

chrisjames61 · May 17, 2014

machausta said:
I have a 386 DX/40 running some ancient version of redhat at grandma's house and its been running constantly since the mid 1990s. It uses IP chains instead of IP tables, if this tells you anything...

Maybe redhat 6?

Its been the firewall/router since that time and its still going strong, so this tells you how long processors last.

I have Macs that still run like new from the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Theocnoob · May 17, 2014

A cpu run at or below stock voltage, if properly cared for and not damaged by misuse, acts of god, or other unforseen events, will last for decades. People have NES systems that they've played constantly for almost 30 years that still work. There are original Macs and Amigas and 286 machines out there still churning away. A great example of long lived CPUs are the CPUs used in aerospace. An airplane might fly for 30 years with the same computer. That computer could see 8-14 hours of heavy use per day for the lifespan of the air craft, with short maintenance breaks.

TeknoBug · Jun 14, 2014

It probably depends on which CPU it is. My dual Pentium Pro server (OC'd to 220MHz) served me from 1998 to 2012 24/7/365, and it still boots up. On a note, the CPU's reached 110C under load and had 6 SCSI-U2W drives in it which produced a ton of heat, so there was a lot of heat generated in there for years.

(G{in}[AK)TION] · Jun 14, 2014

TeknoBug said:
It probably depends on which CPU it is. My dual Pentium Pro server (OC'd to 220MHz) served me from 1998 to 2012 24/7/365, and it still boots up. On a note, the CPU's reached 110C under load and had 6 SCSI-U2W drives in it which produced a ton of heat, so there was a lot of heat generated in there for years.

though this may not have existed yet back in teh day, but did you make attempts to try to water cool the pentium pros?

TransformedBG · Jun 14, 2014

I would say your more likely your thermal paste quits before your cpu...

TeknoBug · Jun 14, 2014

(G{in}[AK)TION] said:
though this may not have existed yet back in teh day, but did you make attempts to try to water cool the pentium pros?

Pentium Pros existed since 1995, but no never did water cooling.

caddi daddi · Jun 14, 2014

I have an old 9150E cpu that has been in a tray for about three years, was fine when i took it out, now it's just a poor paper weight.

Can CPUs die of "old age"?

Culbrelai

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