What actually degrades/shortens a CPU life.

[Darell3]

Is it the voltage going to the CPU or is it the heat shortening the life?

[eshbop]

Mainly voltage. You can keep a chip as cool as you want but if your smashing volts through electromigration will happen.

[ExDreamer]

Voltage actually degrade the silicon.

[nishank93]

Heat damages silicon is a common misconception. It is voltage and voltage alone that does it (not voltage causes heat and heat degrades silicon).

 

EDIT: If you're interested, watch

and then read the following. So, as you might now know (after watching the video), electrons in one end of the doped silicon (source) aren't supposed to be able to reach the other end (drain) under 'off' conditions. Under positive voltage (which is your CPU voltage), electrons accumulate under the silicon dioxide (gate) and the switch is closed (turned on). Now, due to the nature of quantum mechanics, electrons are able to exhibit a feature called 'quantum tunnelling', i.e., move through a barrier in a non-Newtonian fashion (if your hand could quantum tunnel, it could pass through a door). What CPU manufacturers do is dope the silicon in such a way that the energy barrier required for an electron to tunnel from the source to the drain is HUGE, so under normal circumstances, the electron stays where it is supposed to. An excessive voltage gives electrons more energy, therefore they have a higher probability to overcome the energy barrier, causing the switch to close (turn on) when it is supposed to stay open (turned off). Over time, a sort of path is formed making it easier for electrons to tunnel through (silicon degradation), ultimately leading to CPU failure.

[tedjani]

it is voltage my friend i'm with :D

nishank93

[Darell3]

so is 55degrees celcius fine for 24/7? and i wont have to worry about cpu lifespan shortening everyday? (1.32volts)

[Opsilon]

Too much voltage kills your CPU because you degrade your chip's architecture.

Voltage is the electric potential difference between two points, and that means, work needed to transfer the electric charge from place A to place B, and if you overdo that molecular structure in the chip changes.

There is no way to get around this, so every electrical component will die after a period of time needed for the molecular architecture to degrade.

That means at stock your CPU might live even 30 years, but as soon as you start uping the voltage, you start to shorten the lifespan of your CPU, this is the same for the GPU as well.

 

So number one CPU killer is "high" voltage or hitting it with a hammer XD

[Hyydrah]

Heat damages silicon is a common misconception. It is voltage and voltage alone that does it (not voltage causes heat and heat degrades silicon).

 

EDIT: If you're interested, watch

and then read the following. So, as you might now know (after watching the video), electrons in one end of the doped silicon (source) aren't supposed to be able to reach the other end (drain) under 'off' conditions. Under positive voltage (which is your CPU voltage), electrons accumulate under the silicon dioxide (gate) and the switch is closed (turned on). Now, due to the nature of quantum mechanics, electrons are able to exhibit a feature called 'quantum tunnelling', i.e., move through a barrier in a non-Newtonian fashion (if your hand could quantum tunnel, it could pass through a door). What CPU manufacturers do is dope the silicon in such a way that the energy barrier required for an electron to tunnel from the source to the drain is HUGE, so under normal circumstances, the electron stays where it is supposed to. An excessive voltage gives electrons more energy, therefore they have a higher probability to overcome the energy barrier, causing the switch to close (turn on) when it is supposed to stay open (turned off). Over time, a sort of path is formed making it easier for electrons to tunnel through (silicon degradation), ultimately leading to CPU failure.

.

Excellent answer. You learn something new every day.

[Opsilon]

so is 55degrees celcius fine for 24/7?

Yes it is, up to 62°C is AMD recommended temperature ( if you do not overdo voltages of course ), throttling starts at 68°C, and your chip would shut down at 75 °C if i am correct

[nishank93]

Excellent answer. You learn something new every day.

Thank you :) I try.

[Darell3]

Yes it is, up to 62°C is AMD recommended temperature ( if you do not overdo voltages of course ), throttling starts at 68°C, and your chip would shut down at 75 °C if i am correct

70 degrees max temp, i think it throttles around 65-70degrees. But im not sure about shutdown temp.

[JaeDee884]

running it over with a car would degrade it.
I'm having one of those nights. lol

basically overvolting or bad cooling.

[Night]

running it over with a car would degrade it.

I'm having one of those nights. lol

basically overvolting or bad cooling.

What kind of car? I dont think a Prius would do much of anything.

[JaeDee884]

What kind of car? I dont think a Prius would do much of anything.

might undervolt it a lil. 

[Night]

might undervolt it a lil. 

You would get better milage that way. Less power usage and its not like you are going to be going faster than the speed limit.