Would running games in high graphics make your GPU and/or hard drive die faster??

[casshyr]

Like running a 2013 FPS game in high-graphics mode versus running in medium mode.
Would it make a difference?

(I asked because recently my 3-year old computer hard drive died, and this happened pretty much when I started pushing it to run some 2013 games which it was lagging, and even after I uninstalled the games the computer sorta never recovered...I donno if this is coincidence or if I kinda killed my computer for trying to run games that it couldn't really cope...)

 

[apcs13]

It wouldn't harm your computer to push it to high settings unless it really causes it to over heat, which would then cause problems. It would also not damage the hard drive in any way, that is an unfortunate coincidence. Running games on high settings will not damage your PC, no.

 

[getochkn]

Will running at ultra/full AA over low/no AA result in a shorter life span? Possibly. More power, more heat, more everything to run it full out than at lower graphics. Heat is one of the biggest killers of things. Extra graphics heat, if not vented properly, can add more heat to other components.

In reality, probably not a difference, but possible. Better graphics means more heat and heat is bad for PC's. It's like buy a car and driving it at 50 for the life of the car, or 120. Doing 120 all the time is probably going to kill the car faster in theory.

Playing in high-res could also mean larger high res textures have to be loaded, thus forcing the hard drive to load more over the smaller ones. Again, in theory.