How long does hardware last?

[Sniper82]

How long does PC hardware last? Like high and low end 3D cards,CPU's,motherboards,ect. Not overclocked and overclocked. I know no one knows for sure but is there some kind of thing that shows how long a piece of hardware should last?

 

[sohcrates]

I assume you're referring to MTBF (mean time between failure) versus how long before hardwarde is OUTDATED, right?

Good question...assuming normal use and yearly dusting...i'd say decades.

Some of the original Apple's still boot up today

 

[BFG10K]

Most things like video cards, sound cards and network cards last for many years. Usually it's the things like fans, monitors or FDDs that can die after just a few years.

Of course overclocking, temperature and environment play a major role in how long components last.

 

[Ausm]

Don't last long in my box...I upgrade usually every 6 months 😉

Ausm

 

[ku]

Really depends on which piece of hardware you're talking about. Also, other factors (temperature, other ambient factors) will affect the life as well.

 

[Lord Evermore]

An Athlon t-bird of low speed last 8 seconds. But that's without a heatsink. 🙂

Anything with moving parts is more likely to wear out. Solid state parts will last decades, they were designed to, even knowing that most people won't be using them anywhere near that long. It's easier to design something they expect to last a decade at the most, with an expectation that some will fail in 5 years, than to build something guaranteed to last you 5 years at least.

You'll probably snap the connectors on things before you'll actually have them "wear out". (Barring defects and external influence of course.)

 

[AA0]

It also depends on the brand you get, many cheap companies like ECS can die out in just a couple of years, as their boards tend to do quite often.