Does Overclocking GPU Reduce Lifespan? Is Overclocking Safe?

One of the popular ways to increase your computer’s graphics performance without hardware upgrade is to overclock your GPU. But will it reduce the GPU’s lifespan? If that’s the question you have, we’ve got the answer for you.

When you push something to its absolute limit, it’s only natural to reduce its lifespan in the process. Similarly, overclocking your GPU, no matter what anyone says, will lead to premature hardware failure. But to what extent? And how to do it safely? Find the answers below.

Why Overclocking Reduces Lifespan?

Overclocking means enhancing or boosting a component’s default performance to get a better outcome. This is rather a more common term in Computer parts like CPU or GPU. As games and other software are getting more demanding day by day, overclocking has become sort of essential to have a smooth experience. 

Complications Of Overclocking The GPU

First and foremost, the performance difference might not be that great, as we have mentioned before. And depending on your GPU and that particular game or software, you might not even notice the difference. 

Apart from that, the performance boost might be much more unstable or inconsistent. And these might vary from individual product to product. For example, you and your friend might have bought the same GPU and still not get the same degree of boosting due to overclocking.

With that being said, overclocking is not going to hurt the lifespan of the GPU. After the GPU is done manufacturing, it goes through multiple tests. One of them is how much you can stretch the GPU. And that includes overclocking. 

So your GPU is supposed to withstand a huge workload and remain in good shape. And as almost no modern GPUs come with this overclocking feature locked, you are allowed to overclock the GPU without causing any serious damage to it.

Voiding The Warranty

However, it would be wise to read the instructions provided by the manufacturer. The warranty of your particular GPU might get voided if you overclock the GPU. So, that does not fall under your warranty’s coverage. 

So if extreme overclocking damages your GPU or some of its components, you will not be able to claim the warranty.

High Voltage

When you are overclocking the GPU constantly, it will require more voltage. And that higher voltage demand might lead to overheating. So while you are overclocking your GPU, you will have the option to reduce or increase these features. Even though in some tools, these features are just dummies.

Anyway, it would be better if you go slow with the overclocking. Try not to raise the clock frequencies too fast. You might end up having glitches, crashes, or even a black screen.

High Temperature

Just like the CPU, the GPU also gets extremely hot when you overclock them. As they are running at their full potential, it is only reasonable that the circuits and other parts are going to be extremely hot. Even though the cooling fan might starts running faster, the temperature might get up to 80 degrees Celcius.

But that is the safe limit for your GPU. But if somehow the temperature gets up to 90 to 100 degrees Celcius, you have to be worried because that can damage the GPU permanently. Although it might not matter a lot if that temperature reduces in a few minutes. 

But if that goes on for days or months, you might notice a slight performance difference in your game. To prevent such situations, you can monitor the temperature changes while gaming. MSI Afterburner is a great tool for that.

Things You Have to Consider While Overclocking

Monitoring the temperature

When you are overlocking your GPU, monitoring the temperature of your GPU and CPU is a must. Otherwise, you will never know when the temperature is rising out of the limit. So try using monitoring software like MSI Afterburner while you are running heavy software or games.

Auto Overclocking

Mostly you will not be gaming all the time. So if the GPU is overclocked, even when you are browsing, it would just stretch your GPU unnecessarily. To prevent that, save a preset of your overclock settings on that overclocking tool. And use that only when you are running a high GPU-demanding game.

Does Overclocking a GPU Damage It?

No, the GPU is supposed to withstand the workload of overclocking. That is why the overclocking feature is enabled for your GPU in the first place. But when you are overclocking, keep the temperature rise under your consideration.

Because if the temperature gets too high, and remains that way for a long time, it might hurt the lifespan of the GPU. Also if you get your GPU damaged by overclocking, you will not be able to claim a warranty.

How Long Should an Overclocked GPU Last?

Usually, GPU hardly stops working ever. So you can have them in shape for around 20 years if you do not overclock them. But if you stretch them a lot with high demanding games and software, they should yet last up to 15 to 18 years. 

So you can say, that the overclocking does not bother with the lifespan of the GPU that much. Hence, after 10 to 50 years, you might want to upgrade your gaming gear anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions 

Does Overclocking A GPU Damage It?

No, the GPU is supposed to withstand the workload of overclocking. That is why the overclocking feature is enabled for your GPU in the first place. But when you are overclocking, keep the temperature rise under your consideration.

How Long Should An Overclocked GPU Last?

Usually, GPU hardly stops working ever. So you can have them in shape for around 20 years if you do not overclock them. But if you stretch them a lot with high demanding games and software, they should yet last up to 15 to 18 years. 

Does overclocking increases the FPS?

In CPU-based games, overclocking the CPU will increase the FPS for sure. As the clock speed is increased, the overall performance of the PC will boost as well. Thus if you were having 40 to 50 FPS typically, with overclocking, that might boost up to 60 FPS.

Conclusion

MSI Afterburner has now made the overclocking so easy that everyone’s now getting into it. But now that you know, does overclocking GPU reduce lifespan or not, you can just keep overclocking to enhance your gaming experience. Just do not forget about the temperature, and you should be good to go.