Define CPU Burn-in

[DJSfurry]

If anyone here could help explain this a bit, that'd be great. What exactly is CPU Burn in? Is it just running the CPU for a few days at stock, letting the thermal paste settle in whilst letting the cpu run for the first time?

Can CPU's reach potentially higher overclocks after being used for a short period (10 hours or so) or is the maximum stable speed it will ever reach, the speed that can be done straight out of the box?

 

[cubeless]

i'll start the argument...

i think that it's urban legend... or just other factors...

my experience is that my older cpus start to experience 'burn out' (need to get clocked down) after a long hot life... but i'm talking tbird 1400's and mp 1200's that have been running for years at high volts and warm temps and are just starting to show some weakness... and this might be weakness in old psus, mobos, or memory...

sometimes the heatsink settles in and temps go down a bit and u can push up a little more after a while, but i' haven't had a substantial change in oc'ability in any of my cpu's (from 33mhz 8086's to a64's) after running them hard for a while with no other changes to the config...

 

[Tu13erhead]

Burn-in just refers to letting the thermal paste set. This is done by running the CPU under a load for a period of time, and then turning the PC completely off. Allowing the paste to heat up and cool down is the best way to do so.

The overclockability of a CPU has nothing to do with whether it has been "burned in".

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Anandtech FAQ

 

[DJSfurry]

Thanks guys!