Question Which is more likely to die CPU or motherboard?

Giant Hunger

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Jun 23, 2021
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My CPU is hot while gaming it usually has a temperature of 90c when gaming, now i know that's hot but i really don't care much if my CPU is going to die or not because I'm using a xeon x5550 which only cost like $2, however I am concerned about the socket of my x58 motherboard tho. So which one is more likely to get damage the CPU or the motherboard?
 

punkncat

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Is this heat due to load, or poor thermals/cooler?

My concern would be if this is load oriented it would also mean the VRM on the motherboard are (typically) going to be well hotter. Overheating components can significantly shorten their life span.

Probably going to be a good idea to consider mitigations. As a for instance, if this is related to poor air flow, often something as simple as dropping a side panel and directing a fan to blow inside will give you a great indicator as you should see a significant temperature drop. If that doesn't help it could be due to load and you may wish to consider reducing settings and such.
I am aware that there are ways to OC (some of) these CPU as well, so if you jumped through the hoops to make that happen you may need to back off a bit.
 

Giant Hunger

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Jun 23, 2021
367
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1,840
It
Is this heat due to load, or poor thermals/cooler?

My concern would be if this is load oriented it would also mean the VRM on the motherboard are (typically) going to be well hotter. Overheating components can significantly shorten their life span.

Probably going to be a good idea to consider mitigations. As a for instance, if this is related to poor air flow, often something as simple as dropping a side panel and directing a fan to blow inside will give you a great indicator as you should see a significant temperature drop. If that doesn't help it could be due to load and you may wish to consider reducing settings and such.
I am aware that there are ways to OC (some of) these CPU as well, so if you jumped through the hoops to make that happen you may need to back off a bit.
It's due to over heating i don't have much money to buy a cooler so i use my Intel stock cooler from my old pc instead. So does that mean my mother board is going to be fine even when the CPU is 90c? The CPU can rarely surpass 100c as well btw.
 

punkncat

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It's due to over heating i don't have much money to buy a cooler so i use my Intel stock cooler from my old pc instead. So does that mean my mother board is going to be fine even when the CPU is 90c? The CPU can rarely surpass 100c as well btw.

I am not particularly informed where it comes to the Xeon and what socket/coolers fit them so really cannot say if there is an "el cheapo" option that fits. There are loads of coolers that are sub $30 that work far better than stock Intel coolers and in particular if you are using one from the i3 in your sig.

Any time you run equipment near it's max for extended periods is going to shorten its life. In a situation like this I would look to a better cooler, even if used and might consider adding a case fan or two to attempt to cool the VRM alongside.
 
My CPU is hot while gaming it usually has a temperature of 90c when gaming, now i know that's hot but i really don't care much if my CPU is going to die or not because I'm using a xeon x5550 which only cost like $2, however I am concerned about the socket of my x58 motherboard tho. So which one is more likely to get damage the CPU or the motherboard?
Take the side panel off the case.
What happens to the temps?