Can a computer be too cold to operate?

[Blueprint]

I was just thinking, is there a minimum temperature to which a computer can operate? I know that CPU's have been cooled with liquid nitrogen before to achieve insanely high overclocks but does extremely cold temperatures affect performance in any way or is it simply just the cooler the better all the way down to absolute zero? (provided that there is no condensation or ice on the components).

 

Blueprint

[Altecice]

Nope. The colder the circuit the less resistance it has so in theory the lower the better. But if you went all the way to absolute zero then you would stop the electrons moving so yeh

[jameshumphries47]

Nope

yes it can about -40 ish the cpu freezes up

[Levent]

there is something called cold bug which is usually fixed by increasing voltage.

[Enderman]

If it is too cold it wont boot up. This is why you only start pouring LN2 when the temps actually start going up. If you have a CPU at -72C it will not boot up.

[LogicalDrm]

Absolute zero would be the point. Or if there is any component consisting liquid, freezing point of that liquid.

 

E: Shows how much I know ^^

[Archangel1994]

At about -120 degrees celsius a CPU can't boot. If the CPU is already running it will shut down at -144 degrees celsius. It was in an overclocker video on youtube I can't remember.

 

Edit: I don't know which CPU was used.

[Liam-McShane]

I imagine electronics can run at exceptionally low temperatures without condensation, however having no condensation at cold temperatures is an extremely unrealistic scenario. Most consumer electronics are rated for 0c minimum although some are rated to -40c.

[LukaP]

http://www.overclock.net/t/86980/whats-a-cold-bug

[Mojo-Jojo]

Many CPU's will benefit from lower temperatures because the RC circuits will have more current available due to less resistance allowing for more stable and faster charging and so better clock cycles.

However, this also increases interferent noise which may couple over to other traces and wires causing instability.

[ZetZet]

Pretty sure hard drives would be the ones giving up first.

[Bloodyvalley]

-100Cish, you get a cold bug with liquid nitrogen.

[WinNut]

Yes, near around -90 to -100C it starts cold-bugging which can be remedied by upping voltages.

 

The Asus ROG Matrix GTX 780 Ti has a memory defroster which is basically a heater that keeps the vRAM cool but not too cold so that cold-bugs won't occur.

[Acrotar]

Silicon-based semiconductors will freeze out at around -233 C and stop working

[bob345]

Yes, at a low enough temperature, semiconductors may stop switching. Silicon based semiconductors will stop conducting current all together at a low enough temp. The resistance of silicon actually goes up as temperatures decrease unlike most metals.

[P e r s e p h o n e]

There's also the matter of dealing with moisture condensing on top of what everyone else is saying.

[Tech_Dreamer]

yeah! i've seen an overclocker doing this while he cooled his CPU down to -144 degree celcius & that shut down the whole cpu down, so yeah1 it can, but not even under the coldest region earth, we might need a ice age situation for that. it's called a cold bug or  a deep freeze when a CPU does that.