Overclocking Memory Does It Wear On System?

S

Sky

Limp Gawd
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Nov 26, 2006
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I know that overclocking the cpu puts a strain on the board and parts, but does overclocking the memory do the same at all?

I'm not going to overclock my cpu anymore, I'm just not into it, but I was considering just pushing my memory, as long as it doesn't wear on the motherboard or other parts.

If it does then I'll be happy just to keep it at stock speeds.
 
It wears down the memory quicker, of course. That's my thought, I could be totally off the point.
 
yes, however I disagree with your premise, enthusiast boards and memory are designed marketed and sold with the sure knowledge they will be overclocked. For instance why would the bios settings allow OCing if the board was not designed to do it. Nvidia even provides an overclocking guide on their website. Even Intel boards which for years and years where the bastions of stability, some models allow overclocking.

Done properly with the right equipment and a bit of common sense overclocking is not harmful to components designed for such activity.

Now I don't know what hardware you have or had and its your stuff and you do as you please, but I think someone either did not know what they were talking about or you misunderstood them. A lot of people new to the game read some posts and think they can just slap a c2d in say, a DS3 with a $40 heatsink and get 8x400 BAM. Actually some have, but OCing is still somewhat of an art. The key is good equipment and the knowledge of how to get the most out of it, sensibly, without any degradation of reliably.
 
JCNiest5 said:
It wears down the memory quicker, of course. That's my thought, I could be totally off the point.
Click to expand...




Heat and voltage stress across the transistor junctions I quess could be called "wear".

Both are easily managed.
 
If you keep the memory at the manufaturer's rated voltage then there's no reason overclocking it should reduce it's lifespan AT ALL. I'd only say it would significantly reduce the RAM's lifespan if you dramatically upped the voltage.
 
Agreed, there is really only way 1 thing wears down, and that is heat.

If you took a decent computer, put it in a stable environment against static, power loss, voltage irregularities, etc.. it would basically last forever (the chipsets that is).

The main thing that affects it is heat. Overclocking at a stock voltage will run chips faster, so they get a little hotter. Usually not an issue. Overclocking by increasing voltage will cause more heat, and without a proper heating solution they will slowly wear down, or just plain fry.

Trust me, I have several computers that have run 24/7 for years (currently I have a Intel 2.0 GHz that has been running for 24/7 for about.. 4 years now?) The power supply has been replaced once, the fans have been replaced about 3 times, but it is still rock solid (had to upgrade the 5400 rpm hard drive though).

As long as you treat your computer good, and give it decent cooling you should never have any incidents, unless you have issues with power spikes, or actual human influence (dropping a screw on the motherboard, etc)
 
I toasted my OCZ 1066 mhz ram by putting it at 2.3 Volts in a 680i board...apparently there's a known issue with anything above 2.1 volts in my particular ram on 680i boards. I've OC'd the crap out of my e6300 and never experienced one issue with it, on stock cooling no less. I really wouldn't worry about it, just be sure to read up on what modules might have issues with certain settings. Luckily OCZ has a lifetime warranty on my ram and allows overclocking up to 2.35 volts :)

Good luck. :)
 
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