temps or voltage damage cpu if they get high?

varkaris3

Honorable
Nov 28, 2013
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10,510
Let's say we have 3 same chips of the same proccesor that can reach 4.2 Ghz at 1.200V
(4770k for example) I say same chips because as you know some chips of same cpu's can't reach the same multiplier at the same voltages like others, so imagine theoritically that these cpu chips are exactly the same.
So we make the following configurations
in the first one we set 3.5Ghz at ~1.15V (stock cooler)
in the second we set 4.2Ghz at 1.2V (212 evo)
in the third we set 4.2Ghz at 1.3V (liquid cooling)

So after we monitor idle and load temps we note that these are the same.
Which one would have the shortest lifespan?
P.S. Please don't ask why we raise the voltage in "option 3".
 
Solution
Which ever one had the manufacturing defect in the silicon that proves fatal first.

For literally identical silicon higher voltages and higher temperatures speeds up the failure modes so if you take the third CPU and run at 1.2V instead of 1.3V it will live a little longer, but you cannot really predict which one will live longer unless they are truly identical.

Cars make a nice example, a car driven on rough roads at higher RPMs with aggressive stop-start will wear out faster, but the car with the impurity and weakness in the connecting rod that makes it shatter while in use and wreck the crankshaft will die first even though it could have been driven quite gently, there was nothing that could be done to make it last longer.
Which ever one had the manufacturing defect in the silicon that proves fatal first.

For literally identical silicon higher voltages and higher temperatures speeds up the failure modes so if you take the third CPU and run at 1.2V instead of 1.3V it will live a little longer, but you cannot really predict which one will live longer unless they are truly identical.

Cars make a nice example, a car driven on rough roads at higher RPMs with aggressive stop-start will wear out faster, but the car with the impurity and weakness in the connecting rod that makes it shatter while in use and wreck the crankshaft will die first even though it could have been driven quite gently, there was nothing that could be done to make it last longer.
 
Solution
A chip's lifespan depends on a lot of things, but say that you'd keep the cpu on intefinetly, i'd say the third one would die first.
Then the second one, then the first one.
If you'd turn them on and off normally, i'd say the one that reaches the highest temp will.
 

varkaris3

Honorable
Nov 28, 2013
8
0
10,510
thank you guys for your quick responses :)
so it's not all about temps..
I know the question is theoretical and you can't be sure which answer is the right one without making experiments
 


Not mentioning direct burn outs caused by extreme voltages or high temps,
Cpu's suffer wear and tear from increased voltages and from temperature variations-i.e when it's under load and gets to a high temp fast and then it's unloaded and cools down fast.
As a general rule, the better the cooling the more the cpu will last, simply because the temp variations are smaller.