Like all good rumor there is truth in some of this. Semiconductor line widths have become so small that the operating voltage has had to be reduced constantly to combat leakage and NBTI effects. Having a overvoltage condition is VERY hazardous to a cpu's life. We in the semiconductor industry perform "burn-in" at the component level to remove infant-mortality failures before shipping. We primarily use Voltage and temperature as our weapons of choice, but also continue this into sample "life-testing" on new products. My experience is that today's cpu degrade very noticeably through stress. I would not expect today's cpu's to have the same longevity as in the past. Good enough for the market? Maybe.
Who said "The light that burns twice as bright, burns twice as fast"? However, I would have expected that these systems were designed to be fail-safe i.e. the default condition is the voltages start at a "safe" maximum and the fans are full on. When I power on my G5 Xserve the fan noise is very high until the software is loaded to control them. I'm sure the same applies to other Macs. --- On Fri, 1/22/10, Dan <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I *AM NOT* kidding. Linux > does not know how two work the CPU voltage part of the SMC > chip, which makes electrons jump the electron paths in the > CPU, eventually boring new paths and shorting out the CPU. > > Darn it. Now I gotta clean coffee out of my > keyboard. > > > This is pure, unadulterated, horse hockey. > > Thank you. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
