Is overclocking worth decreasing the life of your PC Parts?

CBrooksC

CBrooksC

CBrooksC

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How much better can you actually make your machine by overclocking?

Is it worth just leaving parts as they are or does Overclocking actually increase performance by a lot?
 
nowadays people run highly overclocked systems for years with no problems at all, its really hard to damage your hardware unless you are trying too imo.
 
Generally the trade off is worth it, because with a reasonable overclock you're only looking at dead hardware once it has outlived its useful life.
 
IMO= In my opinion.

Anyway, what tom91x91 said. I used an overclocked Core 2 duo cpu for around 4 years and never had an issue. It still works but now its saved in my 2600k box:D
 
It can increase overclocking significantly. If you're the kind of person overclocking, then chances are that you will upgrade every few years. It's not like you'll use the same cpu for 9-10 years, so overclocking certainly is worth it :)
 
well, processors are quite durable components, so the decrease in life is quite minimal, if noticeable at all.
also, most of the electrical components can stand up to 5years of continuous operation at 105oC, which is the worst case scenario. Imagine then instead of operating at, say, a stock temperature of 40oC which increases to 50oC when stressing, I now operate at 50oC which increases at 65oC.
If my components are of good quality they will go on for more than 10years.
Anyway, usually what I notice to break sooner than everything is the power supply, which usually takes all the "bad" energy from the mains and degrades slowly over time.
My CPU at home, a Pentium D, is 5-6 years old, overclocked with a crappy motherboard, and is just on the edge of giving up, because the power supply cannot handle power so good any more(have a 650W coolermaster and the fan is at full all the time, which I figured It means the heat in there is quite high, which it shouldn't, because such a system would use around 200W-300W max) and the motherboard is glitching slowly.
 
Depends on the overclocking. You can have a 20% increase in CPU performance and I would say that the effect on CPU life expectancy is negligible.

I don't think there's been many test on the matter though...
 
CPU's are designed with overclocking in mind. They are capable of doing it safely without risk.

At stock, they're engineered to last a lifetime in PC years, overclocking probably reduces it a bit, but you'll be upgrading long before your CPU dies.

You should overclock if you want max performance, which can be anything, gaming or apps. Why buy a £700 processor when a £150 one can do pretty much the same job?
 
It only decreases the life if you up the voltage and the temperatures go up significantly. I gather upping the voltage but keeping the temps down dosent do all that much. Keeping stock volts and simply increasing clocks shouldnt affect the life of the CPU much at all.
 
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