Am I reducing the 'lifespan' of my P4 by Overclocking @ default Voltage?

[thatsright]

Hi All.

I'm running my P4 2.4c at 3.0Ghz overclock on my Abit IC7, and a Gig of Kingston HyperX PC3500 @ 2-2-2-5. The Vcore is the default CPU voltage.

I know that overclocking reduces the lifespan of your CPU, but would this be the case if I just OCing the CPU at default voltage? My gut feeling is that the CPU degrades over time ONLY if you up the voltage beyond the default spec. Am I totally wrong about this?

What do you think?

 

[BlueWeasel]

In theory, the extra voltage needed for OC'ing may reduce the life of chip. Since you're running at the default voltage, the fact that you're OC'ing shouldn't make a difference.

Assume though that you need 0.1 or 0.15v over the default voltage in order to run that P4 @ 3.0ghz stable, and it takes a couple years off the life of the chip. Would you still be running the same P4 in 8 years compared to 10?

 

[MichaelZ]

that's the arguement, but... the truth is, no one can be sure how much your CPU's lifespan reduces with a 0.1V increase. there are northwoods that have died in less than a year at only 1.65V vcore.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

With your current setup, you should get lots of years out of your P4. Even though at default vcore, any oc will drive the temps up. As blue mentioned, it's like taking 2 years off of 10 years.

As long as you keep temps with good cooling solution for cpu and case, then performance from oc is worthwhile.

 

[JBT]

My one question about the whole voltage issue is I know awhile back when 1700 T-bred B's were all the rave in OC there were two different versions the DLT's and the DLC's the T's ran at 1.5 and the C's ran at 1.6 IIRC anyway I bought a DLT with 1.5 Vcore. The thing I don'trealy under stand is that if the whole more voltage kills the faster whether is be months or years. doesn't quite make sense with just a minimal voltage increase. bascially the 1.5 version should last long than the 1.6 even at stock???

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that large amount of voltage iover stock is likely to decrease the life span of a CPU but small amounts like .1 over are not likely to affect CPU much if at all.

 

[TStep]

As with almost all materials, the more it is stressed, the quicker it will break, statisically that is. For an individual sample, you never know, could be today. Unless you are adding ridiculous amounts of voltage or have exceptionally high temperatures, I would not be concerned.

If the average life of the cpu, all speeds/voltages/temps/etc per manufacturer's recommendation, is 10 years and you reduce it to 8 years, who cares? It would be the same as if you were using today as your main rig, a cpu that ranges from a 486 to a Pentium 60 for the last 8-10 years. You may still have one, but it would never be the day to day workhorse over that timespan. Also, software dictates upgrades in shorter timeframes too.

 

[lookin4dlz]

I oc'd my celeron by 25% for about three years (w/ only the PSU & HS fan to cool it) before it went to my friends kids who are still running at that speed under Windows XP.
I oc'd my P4 1.8a by 33% for two years & it's still going w/o a problem.
If my current oc'd 3.0c lasts just two years, that's fine because I'll be ready for another upgrade by or before then...