Is gaming with GPU/CPU at 100% bad?

[Homeless Raccoon]

So I game a lot. It's what im probably doing with my time if I'm not in class or at work. I finally built a computer and got off my awful integrated graphics laptop a couple of weeks ago. That being said this thing is my baby and I'm horribly overprotective of it. I've got a gtx 1070 and a ryzen 5 2600x. So I can reliable run pretty much any game on max settings 60+ fps. However I constantly finding myself capping FPS, lowering graphics and what not just based on my own fears that im overworking my system. If I go to task manager and see that my processor or graphics card is working above 65% I immediately start looking for a solution to tone things down. I've had some people tell me I'm just paranoid but I would be in shambles if something happened to this thing. Just going for longevity and health of my system am I being paranoid? Or is it okay to run games at up to 100% of my hardwares usage? I'm definitely not overclocking or anything. Thanks in advance!

[Crunchy Dragon]

100% is pretty excessive, but around 70% usage is normal for gaming.

What are you playing?

 

I'm slightly paranoid of my GTX 780 dying, but I still run it overclocked a fair bit and game on it pretty constantly.

[Enderman]

They are designed to run at 100%...

The point of paying more for a higher performance computer part is to get more performance.

If it's not near 100% you're getting less than what you paid for.

In that case you might as well have bought a lower end component and gotten the same performance.

[KuJoe]

Heat is never good, heat is always bad. That being said how bad it is can only be determined over time (i.e. when a part dies).

[Jurrunio]

The CPU and GPU can safely run 100% every day, what hurts lifespan most are heat and voltage. The lower the better. Of course to a point that your hardware gets obsolete before it dies.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, KuJoe said:

Heat is never good, heat is always bad.

What?

 

Every component will produce heat. This is why there's a safe temperature range, and a maximum temperature.

The safe range is 30-35C idle, 60-75C load.

 

Usage has little to no bearing on heat output, I've seen systems running at 100% usage and only 70C. Still perfectly safe.

[Homeless Raccoon]

4 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

100% is pretty excessive, but around 70% usage is normal for gaming.

What are you playing? 

 

I'm slightly paranoid of my GTX 780 dying, but I still run it overclocked a fair bit and game on it pretty constantly.

I'm getting consistently high 80%-low 90% while playing hunt showdown. Gotten some other games that push it pretty hard but this is the one that made me think of looking for more answers

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Homeless Raccoon said:

I'm getting consistently high 80%-low 90% while playing hunt showdown. Gotten some other games that push it pretty hard but this is the one that made me think of looking for more answers

I've seen spikes up to there occasionally. If you're running max settings, higher usage is to be expected.

[KuJoe]

2 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

What?

 

Every component will produce heat. This is why there's a safe temperature range, and a maximum temperature.

The safe range is 30-35C idle, 60-75C load.

 

Usage has little to no bearing on heat output, I've seen systems running at 100% usage and only 70C. Still perfectly safe.

But for how long? Eventually all hardware pushed to 100% will give in, might be 2 months of 10 years but it will eventually. The goal is proper cooling. 

[Homeless Raccoon]

I did put extra money and research into getting decent liquid cooling for my processor. Is there a good way for me to monitor the heat of my hardware? And what temperatures I should be watching out for?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, KuJoe said:

But for how long? Eventually all hardware pushed to 100% will give in, might be 2 months of 10 years but it will eventually. The goal is proper cooling. 

Proper cooling which keeps it running at a safe temperature...

 

I just don't agree with the whole "heat is always bad" deal you've got going on, is all.

[KuJoe]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

Proper cooling which keeps it running at a safe temperature...

 

I just don't agree with the whole "heat is always bad" deal you've got going on, is all.

Can you suggest some times when heat is good? I'm willing to change my opinion.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Homeless Raccoon said:

I did put extra money and research into getting decent liquid cooling for my processor. Is there a good way for me to monitor the heat of my hardware? And what temperatures I should be watching out for?

If anything goes up to 90 degrees Celsius, then you have to worry about cooling. If not, no cause for any worrying.

 

MSI Afterburner will tell you CPU and GPU temperatures.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, KuJoe said:

Can you suggest some times when heat is good? I'm willing to change my opinion.

Folding@Home in winter is pretty nice in my experience. My 780 still only runs at 80C while folding, but it's enough to keep me decently warm down in my basement.

 

I just don't see the logic in "heat is never good", especially in the computer world where everything kicks out some kind of heat. I would argue that "excessive heat is never good". If you're going up to 90C on everything, then you've got a problem and you should do something about it.

[KuJoe]

2 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Folding@Home in winter is pretty nice in my experience.

I wish that was the case here but I can't remember the last time I didn't have the AC on in my office.

 

3 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I just don't see the logic in "heat is never good"

I just can't picture any time when heat is a good thing except for in parts of the world where it gets cold or if you're cooking food.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, KuJoe said:

I just can't picture any time when heat is a good thing except for in parts of the world where it gets cold or if you're cooking food.

I mean, the planet having heat from the sun kind of keeps us all alive.

 

If my 780 runs at 80C 100% usage, I'm not gonna worry. I've still got another 10 degrees to go before I start to thermal throttle, and my fan curve is aggressive enough that I can let it run 24/7 without worrying about temperatures at all. But if I saw spikes all the way up to 90C or so, then I'd consider that excessive heat and a problem.

 

One could also argue that if a PC component is producing heat, then you know it's working. Or at least partially working. Kind of like fan spin in that respect.

 

A CPU or GPU consumes electricity to run, and in the process of running, produces heat. It's a perfectly normal occurrence in this field, that's why I don't get why "heat is never good".

[KuJoe]

2 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I mean, the planet having heat from the sun kind of keeps us all alive.

 

If my 780 runs at 80C 100% usage, I'm not gonna worry. I've still got another 10 degrees to go before I start to thermal throttle, and my fan curve is aggressive enough that I can let it run 24/7 without worrying about temperatures at all. But if I saw spikes all the way up to 90C or so, then I'd consider that excessive heat and a problem.

 

One could also argue that if a PC component is producing heat, then you know it's working. Or at least partially working. Kind of like fan spin in that respect.

 

A CPU or GPU consumes electricity to run, and in the process of running, produces heat. It's a perfectly normal occurrence in this field, that's why I don't get why "heat is never good".

How about I amend my comment to "heat is never good, but it's not always bad", does that work?

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, KuJoe said:

How about I amend my comment to "heat is never good, but it's not always bad", does that work?

I still like "excessive heat is never good" more, but you do you

 

Thanks for keeping this civil by the way, it's not every day I can have a friendly discussion like this

[KuJoe]

Just now, Crunchy Dragon said:

I still like "excessive heat is never good" more, but you do you

 

Thanks for keeping this civil by the way, it's not every day I can have a friendly discussion like this

No point in getting heated over an opinion and life's too short to argue.

[Stormseeker9]

2 hours ago, Homeless Raccoon said:

I did put extra money and research into getting decent liquid cooling for my processor. Is there a good way for me to monitor the heat of my hardware? And what temperatures I should be watching out for?

You can use HWmonitor, CAM, CPU-Z, GPU-Z and another few out there. Anything under 80 degrees shouldn’t worry. Ev

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

What?

 

Every component will produce heat. This is why there's a safe temperature range, and a maximum temperature.

The safe range is 30-35C idle, 60-75C load.

 

Usage has little to no bearing on heat output, I've seen systems running at 100% usage and only 70C. Still perfectly safe.

75C is far under dangerous temps. True dangerous temps for CPU/GPU (they're both made of silicon so they both have the same danger temps) are 80C 24/7 85C normal usage. 

 

I'm generalizing a lot here.

[_Hustler_One_]

I game for hours with 25% CPU load and 99% GPU load without any sign of problem

[Mira Yurizaki]

The only thing temperature affects by itself is the lifespan of a component. The problem is there's not enough data nor research to have a general idea of when you can predict the life span of a component. At the minimum, the part's designed to last several years under normal operation and I would argue that the hardware is going to be obsolete for you before remaining life becomes an issue.