re: what effect does overclocking have on the life of the cpu

re: what effect does overclocking have on the life of the cpu

I would like to know what the "life" of a typical cpu is and how overclocking affects it. Take for example my OEM 1 ghz celly that I popped in today. It's doing well. So how long is it going to last and what will overclocking it a little bit do? what if I take it to the max?

Hmm I have never had a chip long enough to see how long its lasts from o/cing. The only thing that will shorten the life is by pumping too much voltage to it. But even then a good cooler should make it last well into your ready to upgrade.

If I remember correctly Intel used to say that the average life expectancy of a cpu is between 5 and 6 years under normal use. They used to try and scare us by saying that overclocking the chip will shorten the life by up to half. But it really all depends on how you overclock the chip, and how well it is cooled. If you just raise the fsb a few mhz and are able to maintain acceptable temps, then you shouldnt really shorten the life of the chip at all. If you are like me, then the added cooling that I have done to my case, and the higher quality hsf have my chip running cooler than what it does with just the stock hsf. If they say that normal operating conditions are what I have seen with some of these oem comps (compaq, emachines, some hp's) then most of us overclockers have better operating conditions than those toaster boxes do. What WaTaGuMp said about adding voltage is very true too, because with added voltage comes added heat which is the tuffest thing to deal with when overclocking. Buy yourself a good quality hsf, preferably one with a copper base and a high cfm fan and you should have nothing to worry about. Oh, and dont forget the Arctic Silver II or III. Good luck with your OC.

I've never had a chip go bad either. They seem to last forever. Just make sure you do your homework on the particular chip your overclocking and it will last you longer then you will need it to.

i ben oc my celoron 600 fore about 2years and had no problem

yeah i dotn think it really effects it, and if it does, the cpu will so slow compared to present cpu's that you wouldnt care and youll just go buy a faster, newer better one lol

The way I look at it is that every six months someone is upgrading to another CPU So if they life span of CPU drops to 3 years, thats more than enough.

Mike

it depends on speed voltage and cooling