Does overclocking shorten the life expectancy of your components? or damage them?

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PedramCarter

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Dec 8, 2013
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OK so I know the theory about overclocking etc, and that the processors were designed and can run faster than expectations and theoretical specs, but is this really safe?, let me give you an example, a car that gets put into lot of high speed, and lots of millage gets put on it, over the years it becomes less efficient and can't generate and work as well as it did few years ago, like some times they don't even reach their max speed.
 
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COLGeek

COLGeek

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Your analogy is accurate (to a degree) with OCing. OCing can put additional stress on components and if pushed too hard, you can certainly damage components with excessive voltage and heat (for example). Extreme OCing can lead to significantly reduced lifetimes of CPUs and GPUs, but if done properly the risks should be minimal (by controlling heat, providing good steady power, and applying reasonable OC settings).
 
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dextermat

dextermat

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Hi,

High temperature and high voltage are related to degradation and can shorten the life of CPU and computer components.
So if you overclock and temps are lower then 70ish degree, their are no problems. But do monitor temps and voltage regularly in case it would get in the 80-90. But their it varies from cpu to cpu (some amd cpu should be kept under 70 ). It's case per case.

About the voltage, it a variable that affect the temperatures. the more voltage, the more heat is produce. To make a CPU run faster, you often need to give it more voltage. Each cpu has a max safe voltage. Higher than it, it will produce too much heat even with efficient cooling.

You can use prime95 to stress test the cpu and see what max temperature it reach under full load.
 
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Kurdain1

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Nov 30, 2007
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Correct.
Pushing any component past it's 'design or stock' limits can shorten the lifespan of that part. But by how much? Hard to say.

Typically a sensible overclock won't shorten the life of a part to less than when it would be replaced normally with something newer.
i.e. Lets say a CPU lasts 8 years normally, you over clock it and it cuts the life to 4 years but you replace it in 3 years so it doesn't matter in the end.

1 easy thing to just tell yourself though "Don't overclock it unless you can afford to replace it".
 
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dgingeri

dgingeri

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Higher voltage does cause degradation of the interconnects in an integrated circuit of any type, this includes CPU, memory, and GPU, although memory is usually the least affected because there is a limit to how much voltage you can drive through memory without damaging the CPU. GPUs are particularly vulnerable because they run at such low voltages these days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration Keeping the voltage low can slow this process. Keep your voltage within reason and your CPU should last until you need to upgrade again.
 
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