Does overclocking hurt your computer?

[dragonflyrx]

I know that overvolting and stuff like that hurts your computer, but my question is... testing all these diffrent multipliers, and diffrent FSBs... and voltages.. will that ever hurt your cpu.. i keep voltages below 1.5 and I have a ultra 120 extreme cooler if that helps with your answer. was just wondering...

 

[mickeddie]

iirc it can decrease the life of your CPU. But chances are good your CPU will be obsolete before it dies.

 

[Evilonigiri]

High voltages, extreme heat, they all contribute to the loss of life of your pc.

 

[thegatekeeper]

Depends, CPUs generally last for 10 years, therefore you should have upgraded before it dies out. Increasing the voltages can make it last shorter because of the increased heat output, but a good cooler should take care of that.

A general rule of thumb is to keep your processor below 60 degrees.

I'm no expert, but i hope this helps.

Edit: btw, most CPUs nowadays are multiplier unlocked apart from a few (like an Engineering Sample, a black addition amd, or an extreme intel), so your only option is to overclock using the FSB. Also, increasing the multiplier only effects CPU performance, while increasing FSB makes all the things connected to the CPU run faster, like ram, etc.

 

[bildo123]

Nothing a barney bandaid cant fix!

On a more serious note, the only real thing that I know of that can 'break' things would be to much voltage and/or heat. Other than that really the sky is the limit. And a good example would be a quick youtube search using 'overclock' as a string. They have a video with I believe a P4 hitting 5Ghz with liquid nitrogen cooling. Even still the voltage was very high and I'm sure at one point the chip would collapse because of overvoltage considering the cooling portion was all set. Also I believe in specific cases setting certain things over or under a standard frequency would or can break things such as your PCI/PCI-E frequency. Which should always be 33/100Mhz