Overclocking and the longevity of CPU's

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Foz2001

[H]ard|Gawd
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When overclocking what takes a toll on the CPU? Is it heat or is it the higher voltage?

I'm sitting at 4.6 Ghz right now with my i2500k with temps (load) around 55C, at 1.3V.

I know I can keep going but I don't want to shorten the life of the chip big time. I'm running a Corsair H70.

Foz
 
My general theory has always been as long as you keep the temps at or below stock temps that you would see at stock speeds using the stock heatsink you are fine.

I have been overclocking stuff since the days of the 80486-25Mhz and have yet to see a CPU lose overclockability or die from overclocking.

Unless you are planning on keeping your current setup for upwards of 10 years i would not worry about it one bit.
 
With proper voltages, you will NEVER have to worry about chip life time. That thing will be still be kicking when you and I are long gone. Anyway :p, if you have decent cooling and dont push the chip beyond its limits, you'll never have to worry.
 
Well,let's say the lifespan of a CPU is 15 years (i still have a Pentium 2 rig running around).With proper cooling and voltages,you only reduce its lifespan to 12 years.Unless you pump A LOT of voltages or keep it running on above 75-80 degrees Celsius all the time,i don't think it'll die shortly.
 
of all my years or o/c ive never have shortened the life of a cpu. normally because i upgrade every couple years. so even if i shortened the life from 20 years to 10years who cares because i dont have that cpu anymore.
 
It is a combination. High voltage is the killer, but high heat can speed up the process. Voltage is more important than temp.
 
I push voltages hard to get the last 100mhz out and generally find myself having to back off after about a year. Recently my built last summer i7-930 started flaking out and needed backed off from 4.1 to 3.9. Hopefully that'll be the last backdown I'll need to make prior to building a LGA2011/Bulldozer system.
 
Your pc will have more chance of getting hit by bus in your living room that it would die of a sensible overclock with sensible temperatures
 
All ICs (Integrated Circuits) have a lifetime. ICs basically have millions of miniature "wires" in them, paths for electrons to travel on, but these mini pathways degrade over time. All voltage is technically "bad" for a chip, all ICs do eventually wear out. The size of these wires is measured in nm (nano meters) in CPUs. The fabrication process of CPUs is specified by the nm of the paths in the chip. Electromigration is the transport of material caused by the gradual movement of the ions in a conductor due to the momentum transfer between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms. Basically over time the metal in the chip actually migrates, and the circuits pathways are broken, think of it like a section of road disappearing, the cars wouldn't be able to travel on it anymore.

The formula for degredation is know as Black's equation.

Mean Time to Failure = A(J ^(-n)) e ^((Eq)/(kT))

The important parts in overclocking are:
J = current density
T = absolute temperature in Kelvin

It is clear that current density J and (less so) the temperature T are deciding factors in chip longevity in regards to overclocking.

As processor speed increases, so does temperature. Heat generation is linear to TDP (thermal Design Power) of the chip, from increasing the speed.

Note, the actual speed of the chip is not a factor in Black's equation for electromigration (directly, more speed does increase heat). It's all about voltage and heat. It is also important to note that voltage plays a much larger role than heat does.

If you leave the voltage of the chip alone, but increase the clock speed, the chip will generate more heat. However, if you replace the stock cooler with a better one, you can have a lower running temperature while having the chip overclocked.
 
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