Wear and tear of parts

[AfterImage]

I am curious to know what computer parts tend to last a very long time and which ones tend to go the quickest. Veteran opinions and/or hard evidence is fine by me.

If that is too broad of a question, I originally was wondering how long my new graphics card will last. When I say how long, I mean how long till it doesn't work anymore not how long it takes until I'll need a new one to play newer games

I am guessing the hard drive is the quickest to go. This was the case on my laptop after 4 years. Now its six years old and still running. I wonder what will be the next part to go. Well, technically, the battery was the first to go, probably died within 2 years...

Hope my question is valid and in the correct section. Kind of a general question so I don't know where to put it ~.~

 

[jonpaul37]

For desktops, it all depends on the quality of the items you have. For example, if you have a cheap no-name PSU, it'll probably be the first to go.

If you have a build with quality items it will likely go as follows:

DVD - for some reason these die on me all the time, 1 - 2 years
RAM - RAM tends fail first, 2 - 5 years
HDD - HDD's are sensitive, 2 - 6 years
PSU - they gradually diminish over time, 2 - 6 years
video card - depends on usage but average 3 - 6 years
motherboard - many factors can contribute for lifespan, 3 - 6 years
CPU - usually last longest - 4 - 10 years

Keep in mind that the PSU has the capability to fry any given item, so my list is based on normal wear & tear with no hardware issues. This has been my experience over the years, both personally and what i've witnessed.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Dont forget,
depending on how much you fiddle around with them or bend them into unspeakable angles, your cables are also subject to wear and tear, maybe less so than other components
I've been given working drives/gfx cards to check and traced the issues back to a dead sata/ide lead a few times so its worth remembering
my death list is:
Hdd (they dont like me )
Cases (I hack them up)
Ram (get bad sticks now and again)
Psu
Chip
graphics card (never had one die yet)

Moto

 

[AfterImage]

Wow, very interesting! I was not expecting these answers. I have yet to encounter ram failure from any of my systems. (knock on wood) I think I recall seeing it happen though for a few computers we were fixing.

I forgot about power supplies.. I have worked on a few computers where they have been fried. I used an air compressor to blow one power supply out throughly and it died after I did that...

For those curious, my build:
ASRock 870 Extreme3 Am3 Amd
Sapphire Radeon 6850 1GB 256bit
Cooler Master Silent Pro M700 700W
Cooler Master RC-912 Mid Tower Case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE 3.2GHz
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2x2GB) DD3 1333
LG DVD Burner Bulk Black SATA Model
HD 1T|SAMSUNG HD103SJ 32M

Upgraded from 9300 Inspiron laptop.

Side note: If the CPU lasts the longest, maybe I should overclock my cpu 10%. It is using stock cooler. The only thing is, I have no real reason to do so except to actually do it. >_>

 

[jonpaul37]

Those components are all very good quality with the exception of the PSU. I am not sure how quality coolermaster PSU's are.

Rule of thumb for CPU's in general


stock speed usually lasts a long time, 5 - 10 years (10 years is likely)
low overclock usually takes a year or just over off the lifespan
moderate OC usually takes a couple to a few years off
extreme OC usually cuts the lifespan in half

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I'd say go to 3.5Ghz, nice speed and not too heavy on lifespan degradation, nice build though
Moto

 

[AfterImage]

Best answer selected by AfterImage.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar