What kills gpus?

[RAYSLA]

I heard that they usually die because of things like temperature cycling or high temperatures but i have seen people with 900 or 10 series that have their gpu's at 86c for extended times and they keep running with no problem while other gpus like the 20 series with better cooling solutions randomly die.

is there any other way to extend the life of my gpu?

 

[Shrek]

Set the power maximum to less than 100%

 

[freeagent]

I run the shit out of mine. Thousands of hours in game, also even more thousands of hours running F@H. I run at full power limits, and as fast as the memory and core will run stable as a table. I have always run them that way.. only had an XFX die that was not by my hand and warranty fixed that.

I don't turn off my computer unless I am digging around or changing something, or cleaning.. I work them, not baby them. That is a lie.. I baby them by keeping them cool and clean lol..

 

[Frick]

Heat, power, manufacturing.

 

[Konomi]

Humans.

In all seriousness, typical failures are caused from various forms of degradation. If you're concerned on a new purchase - drop the power target, don't overclock, regular thermal paste changing and generally keep it as free of dust as possible. Also cap framerates in games to your monitor's refresh rate (or less), as that'll help reduce the workload on it.

 

[R-T-B]

Humans.

And frogs.

 

[Sithaer]

As mentioned before, various reasons and some cards simply have delayed manufacturing defects that will only start showing up later.
I've had my old 8800 GT die on me after 2.5 years like one of the memory modules kicked the bucket one day and then the same happened to my bro's 8800 GTX and to my friend's 8800 GTS and then another friend's 9800 GT cause it was a common issue with those cards.
I've also had a 560 Ti die on me cause that card simply fried itself to death in a year after I've bought it, I was new to all of this stuff back then so I couldn't help it. 'Most likely all it needed is a good ol repasting..'

Then there is my bro's GTX 970 that is still kicking and alive and yet he never took care of it nor repasted it so that is one heck of a survivor. 'To be fair its a Gigabyte Xtreme 970 and those were overbuilt'

Personally I'm almost too careful with my GPUs nowadays like I always undervolt them and cap my FPS and whatnot and so far all of my cards survived their years of service ever since that 560 Ti. 'knocks on wood'
My current 5070 has 2 profiles saved in Afterburner, one for the maximum stable OC+Undervolt and another is stock with undervolt which is very efficient I must say. 'I switch between those 2 depending on what I'm playing, like if I don't need the extra performance then I just run the stock one'

And frogs.

This might be the biggest culprit here.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Baking them on a crufty, cramped case or pumping them full of current non stop without maintenance or cleaning for years on end mining crypto will usually kill a GPU, yes. Thermal cycling? They're designed to handle that, not that it's a consideration when your load temperatures range from ambient to high double digits anyway. PCBs are copper, after all.

If you keep your GPU operating in a good temperature range, allow it plenty of airflow and do regular maintenance, it will last a lifetime.

 

[Ruru]

Pretty good points mentioned already. I'd say that complexity and the build quality are also culprits of a possible failure.

 

[Macro Device]

They mostly die from factory defects (some RTX 2000 non-Super cards, for example, had defective VRAM from Hynix and died randomly), bad quality power delivery (be it just as simple as a pisspoor PSU or the circuits at home being a whack) and human errors. Operating within reasonable temperatures (<90C for the die and VRAM chips; <95C for VRM) can last virtually forever; at least most cards become super obsolete before they physically die.

Don't make a big deal of it, check if your PSU and overall electricity situation is fine, keep temperatures sane and don't overvolt your GPU and you'll be fine. And if it dies, it's a factory defect.

 

[Sithaer]

They mostly die from factory defects (some RTX 2000 non-Super cards, for example, had defective VRAM from Hynix and died randomly),

Apparently my Asus TuF 3060 Ti LHR also had the Vram of doom with the Hynix x005 number on it that supposedly fails over time. 'Checked it when I was repasting the card'
I've bought it second had 2 and half years ago and I've tried to babysit that card as much as I could and it did not die on me and now its sold off to a system builder who checked it and told me that its all good so I was paid. 'oh well its not my problem anymore huh..'

 

[mclaren85]

Most definitely too much heat-cool cycles. It will eventually cause solder crackings for sure

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Under normal usage, a video card should last as long as the capacitors. Most solid state caps are 100,000hrs.

Why do some just die? Cause complex circuits may not be as easy to design based on parts pricing and availability or it was just a design flaw somewhere.

Other than that, humans have working electronics flying through space thats older than most of us.

 

[Shrek]

I thought it was fans that went first.

Which leads to the thought that a well-ventilated case will help.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I thought it was fans that went first.

A quick look at a random seasonic power supply

G12 GC (2024)

Seasonic G12 GC PSU designed for reliable performance, boasts gold efficiency rating, ensuring optimal energy use and reduced operational costs.

seasonic.com

has

• Fan life expectancy 25,000 hrs
• MTBF 100,000 hrs

Yeah, thats true. Fans. But a lot of cards come with silent mode too. So that saves the fan usage.

 

[freeagent]

Silent mode is standard on my card. Only 1 bios.. and I have to use their software lol..

Edit:

Just send it man, don't be shy