Can running a computer at full load for a long time decrease the lifespan?

[bungusboy81]

So I'm gaming a lot and for a long time, and I was wanting to know if since the GPU and CPU are both in the 60-70c degrees range, if it would decrease the lifespan any significant amount if I ran it like that for too long.

Thank you in advance, and sorry if it sounds like a dumb question, I'm fairly new to computer hardware.

[seban]

3 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

So I'm gaming a lot and for a long time, and I was wanting to know if since the GPU and CPU are both in the 60-70c degrees range, if it would decrease the lifespan any significant amount if I ran it like that for too long.

Thank you in advance, and sorry if it sounds like a dumb question, I'm fairly new to computer hardware.

how long and which game

[bungusboy81]

4 minutes ago, Seban said:

how long and which game

Well usually my sessions last about 6-7 hours, although currently I've only got time to play for about 1-2 hours. I play games like roblox, kerbal space program, and geometry dash.

[seban]

Just now, bungusboy81 said:

Well usually my sessions last about 6-7 hours, although currently I've only got time to play for about 1-2 hours. I play games like roblox, kerbal space program, and geometry dash.

Alright so first of all, those games definitely don't max out your GPU nor CPU. 

Second of all, even if they were maxed out, it wouldn't decrease its lifespan unless the temperature is at like a constant 85c.

 

So you're fine.

 

[bungusboy81]

Just now, Seban said:

Alright so first of all, those games definitely don't max out your GPU nor CPU. 

Second of all, even if they were maxed out, it wouldn't decrease its lifespan unless the temperature is at like a constant 85c.

 

So you're fine.

 

Yeah I use a ton of visual mods on KSP and an FPS unlocker on roblox so it goes a little higher than I'd expect, but it only hits about 75 at max from what I've seen. Could that still be an issue?

[SupaKomputa]

Well you can't really tell the lifespan of pc parts, some will brake sooner than other.

everything under 100c is considered okay.

[bungusboy81]

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

Well you can't really tell the lifespan of pc parts, some will brake sooner than other.

everything under 100c is considered okay.

Thank you! I'll keep that in mind.

[seban]

3 minutes ago, bungusboy81 said:

Yeah I use a ton of visual mods on KSP and an FPS unlocker on roblox so it goes a little higher than I'd expect, but it only hits about 75 at max from what I've seen. Could that still be an issue?

nope, not at all

[bungusboy81]

Just now, Seban said:

nope, not at all

Alright, thank you!

[Chris Pratt]

24 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

everything under 100c is considered okay.

No. GPU should not exceed 90C really, and running something like NVMe SSD over 80C is a bad idea. Also Ryzen thermal throttles at 95C. In fact, the only thing that is "safe" to exceed 100C is Intel CPUs, and really you should be trying to avoid that.

[Chris Pratt]

Technically, just the act of using silicon "degrades" it. However, these components are designed to be long lived. It doesn't guarantee you won't have components fail from time to time, but that's the exception really.

 

Where you start to actually cause significant degradation is when you're pushing higher power limits, and the subsequent extra heat. If you leave everything at stock you have nothing to worry about, but even with OCing, it's rare to cause any serious damage, unless you just remove all power limits and go nuts.

 

The main thing you want to watch for is fans dying. That is a thing that very definitely degrades with overuse. If you're running the fans at 100% all the time, they'll die real quick. This goes for both case fans and things like GPU fans.

 

[SupaKomputa]

5 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

No. GPU should not exceed 90C really, and running something like NVMe SSD over 80C is a bad idea. Also Ryzen thermal throttles at 95C. In fact, the only thing that is "safe" to exceed 100C is Intel CPUs, and really you should be trying to avoid that.

Especially when modern chips have thermal protection, you really don't need to worry if you're running at stock.

4 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

If you're running the fans at 100% all the time, they'll die real quick

No, not really. They are simple electrics. If you keep them clean they will run forever until the plastic breaks down.

I have a habit of extracting fans and heatsinks from old electronics, give them some tlc and they will run again.

[Chris Pratt]

15 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Especially when modern chips have thermal protection, you really don't need to worry if you're running at stock.

No, not really. They are simple electrics. If you keep them clean they will run forever until the plastic breaks down.

I have a habit of extracting fans and heatsinks from old electronics, give them some tlc and they will run again.

Happens all the time. Age doesn't matter; it's hard usage. Just ask any of the miners who burned out their GPUs from running the fans at 100% 24/7.

[SupaKomputa]

6 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

Happens all the time. Age doesn't matter; it's hard usage. Just ask any of the miners who burned out their GPUs from running the fans at 100% 24/7.

Yes it happens, why? Because it was clogged with dust, if the blade not moving, the motor will over heat and burn. Miners usually have non filtered rooms and lots of gpus running. A clean properly maintained fans will work for ages. In my servers datacenter they use very old fans running like bees 100% all the time. I have to put on special sandals and glove when doing inspections.

[Chris Pratt]

16 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Yes it happens, why? Because it was clogged with dust, if the blade not moving, the motor will over heat and burn. Miners usually have non filtered rooms and lots of gpus running. A clean properly maintained fans will work for ages. In my servers datacenter they use very old fans running like bees 100% all the time. I have to put on special sandals and glove when doing inspections.

That's simply not true. Fans have bearings and they wear out. That's just fact. No amount of cleaning or maintenance is going to prevent that. And you're wrong about miners with dusty rooms. The guys running ASICs virtually have clean rooms.

[Mark Kaine]

I am pretty sure it affects life span, but only like a couple of years probably and that would only be meaningful after 15-20 years or so at which point the hardware would be hopelessly outdated and probably replaced by newer parts anyway. 

 

It also depends on many factors,  if you maintain hardware well it lasts longer, on average, look at all these tattered up "mining gpus"  they're ticking time bombs, often barely performing at the level they should be... stuff can get burned out and still "work",  etc.

 

 

All the above is meant as an average, as you can't really predict longetivity of hardware,  but you can make conclusions,  also including usage and maintenance patterns. 

 

PS: my Pentium 1 still works,  and the pc has never been maintained or otherwise,  but then I think older hardware was maybe just built more robust.

 

12 hours ago, Chris Pratt said:

The guys running ASICs virtually have clean rooms.

Maybe,  however,  my cousin has a "mining rig" 5 cards iirc,  and he doesn't give a hoot,  it's in the laundry of all things so "clothes dry faster" lol.

 

I've seen enough horror stories of mining gpus,  burned out, hacked, unusable bios, etc...  i know some miners take care of their stuff,  however it's also reason #1 i would never ever buy a used gpu, for more than 50 bucks.

 

 

 

 

[freeagent]

Nope, made to run full load for its lifetime. It will be fine. What its lifespan will be who knows, that depends on its environment.

[LogicalDrm]

Lifespan is another of those overused words in PCs that sounds bad, but doesn't actually mean anything.

 

Lifespan of fans is 60.000h+ running at 100% rpm. Thats only given number to any part in PC. Well, SSDs with their max writes are another. All other parts are measured by warranty. Which for quality PSUs is 5+ years. This also means running them at max usage during that time. Which means that they will probably last longer. For CPU, GPU, mobo and RAM, the time to switch because of performance needed comes first, before any of them would die. Except maybe GPU fans which are moving parts.

 

So silicon itself degrades. This means that you need to apply more voltage to achieve same clockspeed some 5+ years from now. If you don't overclock and raise voltages over what is considered normal range, you don't probably notice anything. If you do run it with high voltages for longer times, it does degrade faster (this has been tested and noted by JayzTwoCents for example).

 

But overall, you are talking about using home computer as it should be used. You won't see any other change than maybe fans dying before you have had it for 7+ years. Its quite different if you would be mining or folding 247 or use it as server.