Anewbie

Distinguished
Sep 18, 2008
20
0
18,510
If i Over Clock my E8400 to 4.0 ghz will it burn out fast? my motherboard is a GA-EP45-DS3P and i got some good ram just wondering how long the CPU would last?
 

huron

Distinguished
Jun 4, 2007
2,420
0
19,860
Any time you overclock, you are obviously pushing the chip past it's standard specs, but the life depends on a lot of factors (a big one is heat - that's why people get aftermarket coolers and water-cool).

Some people get years upon years with an overclocked CPU.

Most people who push their chips are likely to replace them more often, since they are more of the enthusiast variety.

There is no way to give you a specific lifespan for a chip that is overclocked. If you are going to do it, just make sure you have a good cooler (Xigmatek is a good choice right now).
 
I've never had a CPU die on me. Some computers I've used for 7-8 years+. I gave my old Penitum III 500 that I bought back in 1998 to my neice and it still runs.

The only issues I've ever had have been motherboard issues (one died, one had a NB fan stop working) and hard drive issues.
 
As long as you don't increase the CPU voltage over 10%, the CPU should last about 5 years. Overclocking does shorten the life of the CPU, maybe from 7 years to 5 years. By then you will be building a new computer.
 

rtfm

Distinguished
Feb 21, 2007
526
0
18,980
I've had the same experiences as T.C. Mobos, RAM and HDDs failed on me but never CPU's (even my Ebay one I've used for 2 years now, which I'm sure was thrashed!). I also have family with 8-9 year old pcs (donated) with good cpus.

On the subject of failure, my Corsair RAM failed a while back (about 2 years old) and they made good on their lifetime warrenty and replaced without any hassle, so a big +1 for them :)
 

jj463rd

Distinguished
Apr 9, 2008
1,510
0
19,860
I've got 5 IBM PC's and 5 XT's that still work from 1983 (25 years old) and an Apple II from 1978 (30 years old) that still works.So far I've only had 2 hard drive failures (on a 386 and a 1.7 Ghz Celeron).
 


Depends on the voltages and temps you're running the CPU at. Increased heat will burn out a CPU as will increased voltage. A good rule of thumb is to keep the CPU at least 10 C below maximum temperature under full load (generally works out to keeping it under 60 C or so) and to keep the Vcore 110% or less than the maximum rated Vcore listed in the spec sheets and you should be able to keep it for years. Personally, I am not a really big overclocker as I am much more interested in having a quiet computer than is 100% known solid stable and has uptimes measured in months than one that is 10-20% faster than stock. About the most I've pushed CPUs is 10% clock speed on stock Vcore as beyond that, I'd need to get better heatsinks.

CPUs last a very long time under reasonable conditions. I have a 533 MHz Celeron Mendocino that is nine years old and still runs. I just replaced the 8-year old 900 Celeron Coppermine in my HTPC with a five-year-old Duron 1600 after a buddy gave me an ASUS A7N8X-E with the Duron in it. I have a 6-year-old laptop with a 2.2 P4-M that still runs- the machine had a dead GPU. My main rig is a socket 3-year-old X2 4200+. I have only ever seen two CPUs that were dead. One was a 66 MHz PowerPC 601 in a first-generation Power Mac that was extremely plugged with dust (the CPU roasted) and the other was a 466 Celeron Mendocino sitting underneath a heatsink with a seized fan bearing (the CPU also roasted.) Modern CPUs will simply shut off when they overheat, so you can't even kill them the way that those old CPUs went. CPUs are some tough, long-lasting little buggers as long as you don't overvolt them too much.
 


Any component with moving parts and PSUs certainly have limited lifespans. I have old boards, old CPUs, and old cards that work perfectly, but I do not expect PSUs, HDDs, or an optical drive to last more than five years unless the computer was used pretty infrequently. Fans also have a propensity to die, but their lifespan depends much more on how dusty your computer is and their RPM than anything. The faster the fan spins (basically, the smaller it is) and the dustier the room, the shorter the fan will last. You could pretty well guarantee those crappy little 40 mm or 50 mm chipset fans that were popular five or so years ago would die within a year even in a clean case, but I have yet to replace any 120 mm fans I've come across.