Life Expectancy of an Overclocked i7 4770K, Cooler Specific Questions

[hasky620]

Hi, this is my first build on my own and the first time I will be trying to overclock so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I'm planning on buying an i7 4770K and overclocking to help future-proof the build. I want to make the i7 build last at least 5 years (doing gaming and some light AutoCAD Inventor) and I'm worried that I'll kill it prematurely with the overclocking. I was planning on cooling with either the Noctua DH-14 or the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (if I can get away with it). How far can I overclock an i7 with each of these coolers and expect it to last? Is overclocking even worth it with these? Or at all given the life expectancy I need?

A link to the build is below:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1gL6r

 

[beanoslim]

I would say why not get a nice Corsair H100i for starters to keep your cpu nice and cool.

OC ing does shorten the lifespan of a CPU but now you can OC and still use Speedstep with the offset voltage it does mean you aren't constantly running your cpu at full pelt, full heat just to maintain the OC.

OC'ing isnt always necessary, it depends what you are doing, if you are doing heavy data crunching then an OC will undoubtably be a faster option but for general usage you may not even notice the OC.

I would suggest running your rig for a while and see how you get on, if after a while you fancy OC'ing the cpu then have a go, you may find it enhances your day to day PC use or you may think its not worth the time and eneviatable heat increase.

Final thought is I would expect any CPU to last 5 years OC or not so I wouldn't worry to much about that.

Excuse my speeling I have been to the pub and can't be arsed to spell check.

Hope this helps

Beano

 

[horaciopz]

Life expectancy if a processor at its stocks speeds are about 10 years since its fabrication. Processor dont tend to burn or die, mostly it´s the motherboard that fails and takes the processor with it. Sometimes you can get lucky and the processor survives. That´s the deal, your processor will lasts as much as your motherboard do. If you really want to have a long term overclock thats where you should look at, to a good and solid motherboard! So after you get a good mobo (lets take the one you listed as example) You concerns are temperature and voltage. It´s well known that too much voltage will fry a processor, so you safe margin is overclock with stock voltage or even a lower one. So it really wont matter how high your clocks are, what will reduce a processor´s lifespan is the voltage. Temps.. well not that much, even if the processor overhaets it will auto shutdown or reduce multiplier to control high temps, so that´s not a big deal.

So you should use your processor at stock voltages and overclock it as much as it permits. I mean 4.2ghz at stock vcore its pretty respectable for a 24/7 use.

If you want to save some bucks get the hyper, but for long term cooling noctua will be your best choice.

 

[hasky620]

@ beanoslim
Thank you very much for your advice! I'm right up against my budget wall so I don't think I can make the jump to the water-cooling with Corsair H100i, do you think that the Noctua will do a good enough job if I ever choose to overclock?
And what is your thought about what \bhoraciopz\b said about getting as much as I can out of stock voltage?

@ horaciopz
I like your idea of trying to overclock on stock but I'm thinking that I might wait and see if its necessary with my games and AutoCAD Inventor work.

Thank you very much for both of your responses, I really, really appreciate it!

 

[beanoslim]

I have the H100, not the new i and its the best cooler I've ever owned and can probably be picked up a little cheaper now the new version is out.

The Noctua was the daddy of coolers for some time but is massive and ugly IMHO😀

Absolutely OC on stock to start with or even see if you can undervolt with your default clock speeds.

Less voltage = less heat and that is always good.

 

[hasky620]

I have the H100, not the new i and its the best cooler I've ever owned and can probably be picked up a little cheaper now the new version is out.

The Noctua was the daddy of coolers for some time but is massive and ugly IMHO😀

Absolutely OC on stock to start with or even see if you can undervolt with your default clock speeds.

Less voltage = less heat and that is always good.

How can I check and see if the H100 is comparable with my Thor V2?

Is Undervaluing more difficult than overclocking?

 

[hasky620]

Also what are your thoughts on the feature that lets you turn up the speed of a core when its the only one working through overclocking?

 

[Intel God]

You'll upgrade before you kill a chip unless you pump 1.5v through it

 

[beanoslim]

If you mean will it fit in your Thor V2 then I think the answer is yes, just Google it for info.

Speed of a core when only one working I don't know, I always set mine to all cores for maximum performance.

Undervolting is easy you just leave all default settings and reduce cpu voltage, check stability and continue until unstable.