Motherboard / CPU Lifespan

bigmck · 02 Jul 2017

I have an Asus P8Z68-V motherboard and an i3 2120 CPU from about five years ago. It still works great, but one day it won't. I was wondering if there is any Data on the Lifespan of them. I know it would depend on many variances. What prompted this question is that I plan to stay with Win 7 and my OEM copy. If one day soon my motherboard dies, I don't believe my Macrium OS copy would be Legal and I would be forced to Win 10 as their are no more Win 7 retail copies (Product Keys). Does that sound like the way things would be?

chefduane · 02 Jul 2017

Oh man, too many variables to answer that question I think. Prolly have to go by the MTBF numbers put out by the manufacturer or by a third party analysis. A MB operated in a dusty hot environ will most likely fail a lot sooner than one operated in a cleanroom... and all the variables in between. A stark example of course, but you get the idea.

ThrashZone · 02 Jul 2017

Hi,
No telling both of us are in steamy Texas
I'm still using a shit Acer mother board although i replaced the original dual core for a quad it works great at going on 8 years :)
Knock on wood I was thinking of replacing it but there really is no hurry I've found seeing what products are out there which 7 would be a pain to install on z270 and above might be impossible to install in on.

Keep it clean is all I can say :)

Southerner1959 · 03 Jul 2017

As others have said, it's impossible to say . . .

But I still have a PC I bought in 1995 that still works fine !

(Windows 95 updated to Windows 98 . . . and faster/bigger hard drive installed . . . it only has a 150 MHz processor, but using it with Word 2003 and other similar un-demanding software it's just as fast as new PCs !)

Layback Bear · 03 Jul 2017

What I would do if it was my system.

1. Keep it clean and running cool.
2. Run at default, no overclocking.
3. Hope and wish it runs a long time.
4. If the motherboard dies your looking at a new build.
5. No magic wan or crystal ball so it's the luck of the draw.

Jack

Megahertz07 · 03 Jul 2017

One more thing to add to Jack's list.
- Use a good surge arrest (>2000j) with a hardware switch. When not in use, shut down the computer and switch off the Arrester.
APC 6 Feet 8 Outlets 2630 Joules Home Office Surge Protector with USB Charger Ports -Newegg.com

Ranger4 · 03 Jul 2017

How long is a piece of string?. The life of electronic components is an unknown, until they actually fail.

My 1995, Windows 95, Gigabyte Pentium 160 motherboard was still working when I junked it in 2007 & it was used regularly. In fact the CMOS battery was also still the original & all components such as the PSU, CPU, monitor were all original & still working.

Mellon Head · 07 Jul 2017

In electronics terms, the average MB/CPU combo is expected to last 5 to 7 years under continuous duty, with no adverse effects like power surges, before periodic reliability faults become an issue.

I read this somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find the source...

I don't believe it though. I've had machines last way longer than that.

Layback Bear · 08 Jul 2017

A length of a string is simple.
Twice as long as it is from one end to the middle.

Computers or electronics is not so simple because of all the variables.

Jack

Megahertz07 · 08 Jul 2017

Electronics has a hight MTBF (Mean Time Between Fails) because each integrated circuit has many components and each has it's own MTBF. Mean time between failures - Wikipedia

MTBF is a statistical Gaussian bell death curve. Normal distribution - Wikipedia
A computer has many essential components, it will have less than the lowest MTBF.

Electronics also has two critical phases.
- Child phase. It's the fist working hours or days. Burn-in is a test were the device is pushed to the limits (temperature, voltage etc). As it is expensive to do the Burn-in test, it has a Military Device classification and will cost much more.
- The other phase is the old one, were components has a natural degradation. This Gauss curve is years ahead of fist start.

In other words: If it doesn't fail in the fist moth, it will probably last for many, many years.