Normally, when we buy a new component for the PC, we all know that we will end up changing it sooner or later, either because we want to update it to improve performance, because it has broken down, or because we directly change our PC. Currently, the graphics card is the most expensive component in a PC, and therefore we can only hope that its useful life is quite long, but could a graphics card last forever? Let’s see it.
Generally, the manufacturers themselves are perfectly aware of the useful life of their devices, and based on that they assign the warranty period. Although most provide their products with the 2-year warranty required by law, many others extend this period to even 10-12 years in some cases (for example, be quiet! provides its high-end fountains with a 10-year warranty). warranty), knowing that their product is really good and that it can work properly for long periods of time.
The lifespan of the graphics card depends on you
Although it is true that most users use the PC graphics card mainly to play in our leisure time, the useful life of this component depends greatly on the type of use we give it, as well as maintenance. And it is that a person who plays on the PC for, say, a couple of hours a day, is not the same as someone who forces the graphics card to work at maximum for 8 hours a day every day. Let’s not talk about those who make or have made use of their graphs to mine cryptocurrencies 24 hours a day, of course.
Next, we are going to list the factors (and you will see that most of them depend on you) that affect the useful life of a graphics card:
- The type of use you give it (we have already explained this above).
- The operating temperature : a graphics card installed in a box with poor cooling or that has a “regular” heatsink and that works at 85ºC is not the same as a well-cooled one that never exceeds 70ºC, for example.
- Maintenance and cleaning: keeping the graphic in good cleaning conditions will extend its useful life, since we will avoid short circuits due to the soot deposited in its electronic components, it will work at a better temperature, the fan will not have to make extra effort to move the dust deposited in it etc
- The fans : even under ideal conditions, the fans in the graphics card have an expiration date, or rather a limited lifespan. They are mobile components in which there is friction, and as such there is also wear, so no matter how much care is taken, there will come a time when they fail (now, if things are done correctly, that moment could be many years from now). .
- The power supply : believe it or not, a good power supply with good protection systems and capable of supplying a constant and clean current also affects the useful life of the graphics card, both by protecting it from possible electrical problems and by the fact that if you give it a clean and constant power it will also make the electrical circuits of the card work less.
- Heavy graphics placed horizontally: be careful with this… graphics cards are getting bigger and heavier, and in the end your PCB can end up bending and even breaking in the PCIe connector area if we are not careful. This will hardly happen to a vertical graph, but there are methods to alleviate it, such as GPU supports. Keep that in mind.
As you can see, all these factors will affect the lifespan of the graphics card, and you can greatly intervene yourself, for example by cleaning the inside of your PC regularly, using a better quality power supply, or making sure that the airflow from your box is good enough.
OK but can they last forever or not?
“Forever” is an expression that is generally incompatible with electronic devices, because sooner or later they will fail. So, in summary, no, your graph cannot last forever, but it is true that taking into account everything we have explained to you in the previous section of the article, your graph could last in good condition for a long, long time. … long enough to survive you.
There is no specific date or period, but even taking into account that the fans are components that, as we have explained, always end up failing, the period for this to happen is usually quite long. Fans typically have an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of over 200,000 hours, and that’s the equivalent of having your graphics card running for almost 23 years non-stop.
You will understand with this that, with care and taking the necessary measures and precautions, although the graphics card will not last forever, we can say that it will last “for a lifetime”.