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Do CPUs get slower over time?
- Thread starter mathcolo
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No, unless it is malfunctioning.
It's not like gas, which by using gets depleted or something like that.
When a CPU has X transistors to use, it will stay X transistors no matter what you do, be it encoding or something other which is CPU intensive.
If a CPU has X transistors and one or more transistors get blown out (X - Y transistors), the CPU will not work anymore.
It's not like gas, which by using gets depleted or something like that.
When a CPU has X transistors to use, it will stay X transistors no matter what you do, be it encoding or something other which is CPU intensive.
If a CPU has X transistors and one or more transistors get blown out (X - Y transistors), the CPU will not work anymore.
The rest of the computer can get slower over time, though. Usually this is related to the software installed on the system. Rarely a system will slow down due to a hardware problem such as a hard drive starting to fail or overheating caused by blocked or extremely dirty air vents. The CPU itself should not slow down unless it was damaged by something like overheating, operating while wet, or a power surge.
Oh, okay. That makes sense. I guess when it feels like a computer is getting slower, I've just been influenced by newer, faster computers
Right. Your system gets "clogged up" over time... extra apps that aren't needed, etc.
If you were to erase the system and reinstall what it originally had on it, it would run at nearly the same speed as it did when you first got it.
Another thought is the effect of newer software. While many times Apple optimizes their software for better performance on their older hardware, apps like video editing suites, after 2-3 years start to utilize newer processors better and leave older ones with less performance than an older, lighter suite.
I was just going to write a response similar to yours, i totally agree with your thought on it. This is a point many people tend to overlook regarding "slower CPUs".
interesting thread!
can individual transistors become damaged over time and the CPU still work correctly? or will it die straight away?
can individual transistors become damaged over time and the CPU still work correctly? or will it die straight away?
How in the world could a GPS get depleted? That makes no sense to me. The GPS sats get nudged now and then to stay in the right position, but a GPS receiver keeps working perfectly fine for years.
It depends which transistors, generally, if any single one of the transistors dies, it usually kills the processor, as the whole process is synced to use x amount of transistors all the time, completely throws off the balance power wise.
However, there is ONE exception I know of. Back in the days I was working with someone who was overclocking an Athlon XP, and he "blew" the cache from heat. There was a small tiny black spot on the die, and the processor was only using 128 or the 512 (I believe 512k) cache that the CPU had. So my guess is that's the one place in a CPU a transistor can fail, unfortunately, it will bring a good portion of the cache down with it.
As for the GPS thing, I don't know where that came from...
There maybe you can see better now, he said GAS as in GASOLINE not GPS.
that explains it nicely and it makes sense. if a transistor died and the whole CPU kept thinking that transistor was fine, computation errors would be coming up every second!
nice story lol