Can extremely low temperatures damage your components?

[Johnmakuta]

Can having a CPU run at sub-zero temperatures damage your components just as much as much as over 90 degree temperatures can? As in can sub-zero cooling damage components even without overclocking?

[AlbinoTexan]

nah you're fine.  as long as its not to the point the CPU actually freezes 

[Hackentosher]

If your chip is below like -100somethingC, it wont boot, and if you get it colder than -100somethingmorethanthefirstnumberC it will shut down because it's too cold. If you're just throwing a TEC on top of your chip, you should be fine unless you get too much condensation.

[Reavantos]

moisture is  the problem. watch the temperature differentials and humidity. Back in the days of peltier cooling this was more of a issue.

[spartaman64]

the problem is condensation 

[WebPlayz]

6 minutes ago, Johnmakuta said:

Can having a CPU run at sub-zero temperatures damage your components just as much as much as over 90 degree temperatures can? As in can sub-zero cooling damage components even without overclocking?

the lowest a (most cpus can go without booting is) 140c or 130c and you can get like a 6.0 ghz oc

[Jerochy]

hard drive can be damaged if below freezing, but that's about it. Condensation is the main factor why people don't put their PC's in fridges. 

[AMICLG]

You can get what's called the cold bug when you go past -100C. You CPU and/or RAM will lock up or not post. Nowadays it's all the same thing since the memory controller is now on the CPU.

[Spork829]

Condensation is the issue, not temp. You have to get REALLY cold to damage anything.

[asiancorruption]

9 minutes ago, Jerochy said:

hard drive can be damaged if below freezing, but that's about it. Condensation is the main factor why people don't put their PC's in fridges. 

that and the fact that the AC unit would die from the constant heat.

[asiancorruption]

18 minutes ago, Johnmakuta said:

Can having a CPU run at sub-zero temperatures damage your components just as much as much as over 90 degree temperatures can? As in can sub-zero cooling damage components even without overclocking?

like others said, condensation would be the issue. youd need to isolate the parts you want to cool. Linus did a sub zero build that did what you're looking for. He insulated the cpu socket with kneaded eraser just to make sure the cpu wouldn't get moist 

[Neroglance]

5 hours ago, AdamIsaacLang said:

You can get what's called the cold bug when you go past -100C. You CPU and/or RAM will lock up or not post. Nowadays it's all the same thing since the memory controller is now on the CPU.

What they said... different chips have different cold bugs.  I have had some that cold bugged around -120c and some not cold bug at all and I was able to get those down to -190c.  Different can happen as you get lower and I remember one time I went through probably 30l of liquid nitrogen before I realized my ram was getting below freezing and that kit did not like that and would give me signs of the cpu cold bugging but it was only at -72c which was weird.  Anyways solved that and it went down to -170 c after that gpu are the same way if the memory chips get to cold it can cause issues or lose video until they warm back up.  The cold does not kill the chips they allow for higher over clocking but things like moisture have to be accounted for so using ln2 I would use either Vaseline or liquid electrical tape to insulate the board, some art eraser, insulation and shop towels, and electrical grease in the cpu socket to keep everything dry but eventually things will start bugging out at that cold so you have let everything completely warm up and dry out.  Tec chillers, water chillers, and phase change don't require as much insulation as ln2 benching but still requires time and patience as any moisture will kill components.

[AMICLG]

9 hours ago, Neroglance said:

What they said... different chips have different cold bugs.  I have had some that cold bugged around -120c and some not cold bug at all and I was able to get those down to -190c.  Different can happen as you get lower and I remember one time I went through probably 30l of liquid nitrogen before I realized my ram was getting below freezing and that kit did not like that and would give me signs of the cpu cold bugging but it was only at -72c which was weird.  Anyways solved that and it went down to -170 c after that gpu are the same way if the memory chips get to cold it can cause issues or lose video until they warm back up.  The cold does not kill the chips they allow for higher over clocking but things like moisture have to be accounted for so using ln2 I would use either Vaseline or liquid electrical tape to insulate the board, some art eraser, insulation and shop towels, and electrical grease in the cpu socket to keep everything dry but eventually things will start bugging out at that cold so you have let everything completely warm up and dry out.  Tec chillers, water chillers, and phase change don't require as much insulation as ln2 benching but still requires time and patience as any moisture will kill components.

Absolutely correct.  I was just giving a quick example that it doesn't usually happen until your below -100C but of course others can do it sooner.