Failure time for Overclocked CPU's

This is my first overclocking endeavor in quite some time so I've been reading a lot of how-to's and forum threads. I have my C2D e6400 allendale overclocked moderately to 2.8GHz. Should I be concerned with premature failure? How long could I expect this CPU to last at these speeds? I realize there are many factors involved, but I have good cooling with Idle temps at 32C and 100% load temps at 54C (load applied for over an hour).

There is no real way to know how long any CPU will last. Even when you dont OC chips can go bad once in a while before their time.

While it is true that OCing can reduce the life of the chip, its more than likely that you will upgrade to a faster proc long before the shortened lifespan comes.

I wouldnt worry too much about it.

i wouldn't worry at all. that cpu will last for years and years and years and years, etc.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

i wouldn't worry at all. that cpu will last for years and years and years and years, etc.

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So true. Every CPU I overclocked. I got bored of them way before end game.

There is no real way to tell the lifespan in the real world of a CPU. If I remeber correctly, they are supposed to have a life of 10 years.

I have an old 700Mhz server that just won't die. The 1000Mhz not much younger then it, died in the first two years.

Generally speaking, CPU's will outlive their usefulness, even if overclocked. I don't think this principle changes unless you start pumping a lot more voltage, but even then the risk isn't all that great with proper cooling.

I usually get bored of the cpu and move on and something faster is out by then anyway. I love my 6600 tho, I think I will keep it.

CPU's life span so they say is 10 years. Motherboards have definatly shorter lifes then that, let alone most components in the case I wouldn't trust after just a few years (fans, harddrives, dvd drives).

Still got my old Celly 533 running, and an older Celly 300 running to this date, those are old chips, even in there original mobo. But new harddrives, power supplies and cases since then. Still even have an old TNT card in mine.

Great, thanks for all the responses, makes me feel better. I hope there's no way for intel to know that it's been overclocked since I got a retail version, that way I will at least have 3 years out of it.

there is no way for intel to know, but an honest overclocker would eat the cost of any hardware he kills.

That's true HBB, be a good excuse to use so the wife would let me upgrade.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

there is no way for intel to know, but an honest overclocker would eat the cost of any hardware he kills.

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Amen. I just borked a WD800JD by being too eager with the power connector. Time for Raptors!


~ Gos

Enablingwolf said:

I have an old 700Mhz server that just won't die. The 1000Mhz not much younger then it, died in the first two years.

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Amen to that. I finally killed my original computer, a 33mhz p1 this fall. The CPU refused to die, and I finally just yanked it out, disposed of the board, and framed the chip.

if you are worried about damaging parts, you probably shouldn't OC and risk it anyway.

I've been through countless CPUs and never had one fail due to overclocking. Only damage to any CPU due to overclocking came to an Athlon XP that incurred a slightly crushed core. It still worked though.

deathman20 said:

CPU's life span so they say is 10 years. Motherboards have definatly shorter lifes then that, let alone most components in the case I wouldn't trust after just a few years (fans, harddrives, dvd drives).

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I've yet to find a failed cpu because of usage and not thermal damage from failed fan's that weren't addressed on older (386/486 hardware) systems.
Just to put some things into perspective, overclocking will shorten the life of parts that have liquids in them... like most standard caps. Even then I have yet to find a part fail because of the circuitry. I use a floppy drive from a 1996 U.K. Gateway2000 computer to install raid drivers. Even in 96, floppy drives were made with "crappy" components... especially the OEM... yet here I am with a working drive. I've found that things fail often for reasons never considered. CD drives failing because they're "old" turn out to just be very dirty inside. Or a HD that doesn't spin up... broken pin on the power cord. The classic mouse is jumping around... dirt on the rollers. I've got 4 perfectly functional Microsoft Intelli mice that just needed a quick cleaning, lol. It's crazy what kind of crap the marketing departments feed us. As an engineer I can tell you now that they are full of crap when they say everybody needs to buy new hardware often to keep up to date. Heck, 99% of the software hotfixes from Microsoft are useless.
Parts that fail with age; High current devices that have lots of components and are cheap for the weight... PSUs, fans, cd drives if used often (just check if it's a broken rubber band before throwing out). The rest will probably outlive your childrens children. The real reason PSU's fail is because of the buffering they have to do. Undervoltage, Surge, shorts on the same line, huge current draw, these aren't expected unless you spend a little more.

I wouldn't worry about the CPU. In my experience I have not had a processor die from overclocking. Most frequently the component that dies on me because of overclocking is the motherboard.