Does overclocking reduce the life of your CPU?

[ryan29121]

Im wondering if overclocking a CPU will it reduce the life of it. I overclocked my q6600 to 3.2 will that significantly decrease the life? Just wondering because I dont want to burn up my $280 part. I don't have that much money as it is. Thanks in advance for your help.

[zer0]

just use a good cooler.

heat will reduce the lifespan of your processor.

[ryan29121]

just use a good cooler.

heat will reduce the lifespan of your processor.

I have a Zalman 9700. Its the biggest and best CPU fan that I could find. Do i have to worry with that attached?

[zer0]

that's the best air cooler zalman can offer. that's a very good air cooler for overclocking.

[DRen72]

Im wondering if overclocking a CPU will it reduce the life of it. I overclocked my q6600 to 3.2 will that significantly decrease the life? Just wondering because I dont want to burn up my $280 part. I don't have that much money as it is. Thanks in advance for your help.Yes, but put it this way... It will reduce its life from 20 years down to 10. You planning on keeping that CPU that long?

[Riptide]

This isn't an exact science. Noone knows, really, how long a given overclock will affect any individual part over x period of time. It's just a guess.

I've seen a video card that overclocked fine for six months begin to fail at what was once a stable set of clocks. Back to stock and it was OK. Heat was not an issue at all. It just up and decided one day that it had enough. This isn't necessarily a common occurrence - but it certainly does happen. And it can happen to any part that is pushed past specs.

[LORD-eX-Bu]

yes it does, it is evil and it will push your grandma down the stairs as well :bleh:

[nekrosoft13]

I have a Zalman 9700. Its the biggest and best CPU fan that I could find. Do i have to worry with that attached?


doesn't matter how big it is, temps matter.

[CaptNKILL]

Never seen an overclocked CPU die. The only CPUs I've ever seen that failed were running at stock speeds and must have just been defective.

I'd say of all of the components out there, CPUs are the most reliable, long lasting and well tested for quality control. I wouldn't worry about ever losing one unless you plan on doing "extreme" overclocking that requires phase change cooling or voltage modding.

[Madpistol]

yes it does, it is evil and it will push your grandma down the stairs as well :bleh:

No.... that's your cat.... :p



Overclocking will reduce the life of your processor, but what does it matter? As long as it's adequately cooled, you're going to get plenty of life out of it... 3-4 years minimum.

[CaptNKILL]

I know everyone's probably heard it 500 times already, but my old Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred B core CPU has been running at 2Ghz (533Mhz overclock) on a Thermalright SK-7, in an Abit NF7-S for a little over 5 years now. Almost 24\7 and always busy.

I really wouldn't worry about wearing out any CPU.

[Slammin]

People that say overclocking reduces the life of a PC are just repeating what they've heard somewhere, but nobody has actually had it happen to them. :D


Now, electromigration, where a combination of excessive current AND heat, is very common, but is mostly due to using too much voltage to reach your overclock, and cooling won't really help. Even then, what usually happens is a certain overclock is no longer stable, but the component still works.

[$n][pErMan]

I have a Zalman 9700. Its the biggest and best CPU fan that I could find. Do i have to worry with that attached?
Thats a great HSF and exactly what I use. Assuming you have looked at your temps... its a very good air cooler and you should be fine ;) I try to keep my full load temps under 60C.

[Butter Bandit]

I know everyone's probably heard it 500 times already, but my old Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred B core CPU has been running at 2Ghz (533Mhz overclock) on a Thermalright SK-7, in an Abit NF7-S for a little over 5 years now. Almost 24\7 and always busy.

I really wouldn't worry about wearing out any CPU.

I'm currently using an Athlon Thunderbird 1.2ghz processor running at 1.4 ghz, and it has been running with that overclock for around 7 years. I actually had to do the whole rear-window defroster repair kit multiplier unlock thing on this processor (anyone know what I'm talking about?).

[stncttr908]

I wouldn't say the higher clocks reduce your components' lives, but voltage increases may.

[crainger]

I'd say it would reduce the life, but it would be a fairly insignificant fraction UNLESS you also bump the voltages up.

[Amuro]

According to the follwing, CPU's failure increase is a direct function of the number of thermal cycles and the change in temperature above ambient. So in addition to heat, turning the computer on and off also reduces CPU life.

http://www.overclockers.com/tips30/

[Joe Public]

It will be severely outdated even long before it would eventually cease working. I've not seen a CPU croak either, unless it was overclocked and overvolted beyond even the extreme limits as mentioned earlier.

I have a Pentium III 700 MHz running at 933 MHz and 1.75V (default voltage is 1.65V) and it's still running fine in my fileserver 7.5 years after I built that rig.

[Rubycon]

I'm currently using an Athlon Thunderbird 1.2ghz processor running at 1.4 ghz, and it has been running with that overclock for around 7 years. I actually had to do the whole rear-window defroster repair kit multiplier unlock thing on this processor (anyone know what I'm talking about?).

Yup. I also soldered resistors on Slot-A Athlons because the "goldfingers" devices looked too cumbersome. :eek:

[ViN86]

too much voltage and/or too much heat will decrease the life of your processor.

dont overvolt it and keep it cool and you will be fine ;)

[Slammin]

According to the follwing, CPU's failure increase is a direct function of the number of thermal cycles and the change in temperature above ambient. So in addition to heat, turning the computer on and off also reduces CPU life.

http://www.overclockers.com/tips30/




Yup, turn it off, the silicon gets cold and contracts. Turn it on, the silicon gets warm and expands, and this causes the silicon to fatigue, eventually. This is why I was always in the "Leave it On" camp, but man, I just let my computer go into standby mode after an hour anyway because I don't like paying the electric bill.

[Bman212121]

According to the follwing, CPU's failure increase is a direct function of the number of thermal cycles and the change in temperature above ambient. So in addition to heat, turning the computer on and off also reduces CPU life.

http://www.overclockers.com/tips30/

That is a very good read. So theoretically if you could keep the temps lower an OC'ed processor with a high end cooler could last longer than a stock processor on a stock cooler.

[j0j081]

also another reason to keep SpeedStep and Cool N Quiet enabled.

[LycosV]

As everyone above has said, voltage and temperature increases will decrease the life of your processor. How much is the unknown.

As long as you're keeping it cool and you're not amping the voltage it should last way beyond the time you'll be using it.

[Lenin]

I have a Zalman 9700. Its the biggest and best CPU fan that I could find. Do i have to worry with that attached?
No, you should have no problems with OCing.
However, there are still better fans, performing more silent as well. Just look at this comparison chart:
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2233&page=5

also another reason to keep SpeedStep and Cool N Quiet enabled.
Exactly. Using SpeedStep, my Q6600 runs at only 2.0GHz while web browsing and such.