Does overclocking shorten lifespan?

[Egghead101]

I have an EVGA 3080 FTW3 GPU and wanted to look into overclocking. I have good thermals overall with a lian li lancool 2 mesh performance case. I was wondering if overclocking will significantly degrade the lifespan of my GPU. I paid an arm and a leg for this thing, even using microcenter, and do not want to damage it.  I am using MSI afterburner for fan curve editing and overclocking if that matters. Oh, and a 750W PSU (not the exploding one). 

[Dedayog]

Yes, it can.  Anytime you use something a bit harder than it was originally, wear happens.  

 

Is it substantial?  You'll never know, since failure rates are random and all over the board, you won't know if you lost 10% due to OC, or just that your shit died after 5 years normally.

 

Reality: You'll buy a new GPU before that one fails from OC, is my stance.

 

It's under warranty, do with it what you want.

 

[Cyracus]

It does cause faster wear (power delivery components usually rated for 5000 hours @ 105C, you approx. double lifespan for every 10C reduction in temps) Unless you physically mod the card you're looking at shaving months, maybe a year off its lifespan, but that only becomes a concern if you're going to be using the card in 7-10 years

[Egghead101]

Yeah I am a student so income is a bit up in the air until I graduate. I was hoping to have it last like 8 years or so to be safe. Obviously, the longer the better. 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, Egghead101 said:

Yeah I am a student so income is a bit up in the air until I graduate. I was hoping to have it last like 8 years or so to be safe. Obviously, the longer the better. 

Sounds like you're doing fine with income, a 3080 is more than some people's cars

 

If you have it in 8 years in your main rig, you need a better job out of college, sir.

 

 

[Egghead101]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Sounds like you're doing fine with income, a 3080 is more than some people's cars

 

If you have it in 8 years in your main rig, you need a better job out of college, sir.

 

 

Well I lucked out with my family taking an interest in the build and chipping in a significant amount of money. I am a medical student entering residency next year so income is......coming.....eventually. Just not sure I can afford to replace the card on a residents salary in 5 years like I would prefer. 

[Gohardgrandpa]

I never overclock a gpu. I see no need for it. It's not like old Intel CPUs where you'd get double the clock speed and see a significant gain. By the time my GPU isn't doing good enough I'd have to replace it overclocked or not 

[freeagent]

You are just exploiting headroom that is already there. It’s when you add voltage that things change.. minimally. Keeping it cool is the absolute best thing you can do for it. Ramp up those fans when you play, and honestly fuck silence. Care about silence? Don’t overclock.. heat is the enemy, voltage is your friend. A friend that can turn on you given the right opportunity.. so always be aware of what’s going on in your machine.. to move a little air you gotta make a little noise.

 

 

[thewelshbrummie]

Simple answer @Egghead101.

 

Leave it as it is and don't bother with overclocking it at all, especially if you want it to last 8 years. Keep in mind that your EVGA model is factory overclocked already. EVGA list the boost clock of your 3080 at 1755MHz - Nvidia list the boost clock of a standard 3080 as 1.71GHz, or 1710MHz. I also wouldn't count on your EVGA having a binned GPU die. 

 

I've never bothered overclocking GPUs myself - I'll take a factory overclock from the OEM but I don't see any point in doing so myself, even for a card I'd keep for 2 years at most. As others have said, overclocking can cause a GPU to fail sooner than it would without it. There's no way to really prove that and it might last for 15 years without any problems. It might also only last 6 months regardless of what you do.

 

For a card you want to potentially keep for 8 years, my advice is to leave it at stock - and I'd suggest the same for the fan curve too if you've changed it to run more quietly (as that will increase temps that may affect how long it lasts before failling).