Under stock cooling out of the box it was going up to 61C (ouch). I applied some AS5 and temps are down to about 55C full load with my oc. I'd like to keep my overclock, since I'm going to be getting a 6600GT and want to play Half Life 2 and Doom 3 and such without my CPU being too much of a bottleneck.

So what would a reasonable temp be to ensure it lasting me the next 6 years?

AN35N-Ultra
Barton 2500+ at 11.5*175, 1.65v and 55C full with Prime 95
512 MB pc2700 at 175MHz soon to be 1 Gig (no problems with 2.5-3-3-8; safe to last too?)
Stock cooling with AS5
futah 6600GT (will oc this too)

I really can't take my FSB higher due to the RAM.

So really, a few ???s.

Whats a good temp to ensure it lasts me 6-7 years?

How much would I need to spend on a better cooler to up it to maybe 13*175? If I do that, would it still last as long (I've heard the only reason a CPU will go caput is simply the high temps caused by the higher voltage damage it, but not the high voltage itself)? And how much a diff would it make for leaving it on all the time vs off an on...

I don't have the money right now, but maybe in a month I'll be able to get my 6600GT AGP (or maybe 6800GT I can find it for $300 like my friend did). Would it be worth it for future gaming with my processor to get the 6800GT? Or will games just become even more CPU dep and it be too bottlenecked, making the 6600GT the better choice?

Thanks so much for reading all this lol...


edit: Whoa I don't know how I ended up putting this in the Sempron form lol...sorry....move please....

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Wrong forum or not, I will answer your question.

When overclocking, you are putting more stress on the components. It will not necessarily have a shorter life expectancy, since the same applies to stock components. There is no tell tale life span of a CPU, or another component. Your CPU may last 5-10 years with or without overclocking. Can never really tell.

For your video card, either one will do for your gaming needs. That's your choice. Both cards will be bottlenecked by the CPU. Heck, even the FX-55 is a bottleneck for the 6800GT/Ultra.

A good cooler for the AXP is the Volcano series of coolers, by ThermalTake. Though, I have a ThermalTake SilentBoost with AS5, and it works wonders with temps, and keeping the system quiet.

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