Q about CPU's Temp

[Nights_L]

People say that we should keep the cpu as cool as possible, too hot would reduce CPU's life
ok, here is my question
At what temperature will really "reduce" cpu's life?
Take my Palomino XP2000+ for example. it's 54C at idle, goes above 60C. It's not harmful from what I know
but at what temperature, it will really reduce cpu's life?

 

[Maz2331]

It's hard to say exactly, but I tend to go with the manufacturer's numbers - for the Athlons AMD rates them at 70C. Personally I like to keep them under 60 if possible. I've had good success with AMD's stock heatsinks shipped with boxed processors - I rarely see over 58C on my machines. Do note that they are pretty sensitive to dust though as they have the "skiving fin" type construction and airflow restriction results even in some filtered rackmount cases (one of my in-house production servers started acting VERY strange and it took me 3 days to find this one -- I now clean out its heatsinks every 2-3 months by removing it, taking off the fan, and cleaning out with water. Make sure to replace your thermal compound when you do this!)

 

[rcj187]

how long do you plan to keep that cpu? most people upgrade every 2 years or so. even at 70c the cpu will easily last longer than that so dont worry about it. rule of thumb when dealing with temps is "if its stable its not too hot"