The average life of a GPU
- Thread starter Renrew
- Start date
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Sorry to bounce this after a month, but came across this in a search and wanted to pipe in.
A lot of good suggestions here, but given the repeating nature of the issue I would suggest you look at the power in your home. We lived in an older home for a couple of years with an old breaker box and original wiring, and in that time I lost more computer parts than the rest of the time I have been building PCs combined (nearly 20 years now). We went through microwaves and vacuum cleaners as well, so if you are losing those at an above average rate, it's another good indicator that something is not good.
Given that you repeatedly have lost cards, I would point at input power spikes and dropoffs as a likely cause; they can slowly degrade the lifespan of capacitors and other power components. Modern motherboards have high quality caps and MOSFETs that can handle dirty power pretty well, but video cards don't usually have the same level of quality, and since they get power directly from the power supply, the motherboard components can't protect them.
My advice here is twofold. First, get an Automatic Voltage Regulator or a UPS that includes that feature and put it between the wall and your PC; you can get a standalone AVR from APC for under $40. This will ensure that the power coming into your system is stable. Second, make sure you have a good power supply. It's worth spending extra to get a power supply that is well reviewed by someone who has a voltage tester rig.
Hope that helps!
A lot of good suggestions here, but given the repeating nature of the issue I would suggest you look at the power in your home. We lived in an older home for a couple of years with an old breaker box and original wiring, and in that time I lost more computer parts than the rest of the time I have been building PCs combined (nearly 20 years now). We went through microwaves and vacuum cleaners as well, so if you are losing those at an above average rate, it's another good indicator that something is not good.
Given that you repeatedly have lost cards, I would point at input power spikes and dropoffs as a likely cause; they can slowly degrade the lifespan of capacitors and other power components. Modern motherboards have high quality caps and MOSFETs that can handle dirty power pretty well, but video cards don't usually have the same level of quality, and since they get power directly from the power supply, the motherboard components can't protect them.
My advice here is twofold. First, get an Automatic Voltage Regulator or a UPS that includes that feature and put it between the wall and your PC; you can get a standalone AVR from APC for under $40. This will ensure that the power coming into your system is stable. Second, make sure you have a good power supply. It's worth spending extra to get a power supply that is well reviewed by someone who has a voltage tester rig.
Hope that helps!
