CPU death?

[ku]

What actually happends at the "end" of a computer chip's "life" comes to? Does it start slowing down? Does it start crashing? Does it just stop working all of a sudden?

 

[lilstevo]

yea I wonder this too...it is a slow miserable death or a quick painless one?

 

[CTho9305]

it wouldn't slow down, thats not how they work. I imagine it would start to crash occasionally, then frequently, then not boot, or it would just one day crash and never come back (like mine did when the power supply killed it and itself)

 

[ku]

oh dear... i dont think i can go through with this overclocking thing... i would be in too much pain if it suddenly died on me! =*(

anyways...

If it starts crashing.. let's say... could you possibly lower the multiplier or fsb (whichever you used to oc) and would it work again? just curious =P

 

[CTho9305]

oh, you will know long before your chip is dying (as in, frying to death). If you choose a speed/vcore that is too high, you will experience instability (as in, crashes). Find the highest speed with a reasonable vcore/temp, and run SETI and foldign@home and rc5 and whatever else you can (internet, winamp, icq, etc) and see if it can go for a week. If it does, you're fine. If it doesn't, try either a slightly higher vcore, or a slightly slower speed.