High Frequency/Life time?

[jay]

Bit of a newbie question.

But, if you ran RAM at higher frequencies such as 1600MHz/2000Mhz, does it affect the CPU's and motherboards lifespan?

My setup:
Asus P6X58D-E
Trident F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD @ 1600Mhz, 1.5V
i7 930 @ 2.8 GHz, 0.98V, turbomode & load line calibration disabled (yes, undervolted)

The rest of the settings is still at stock.

[Tradesman]

It can yes, but there's a lot to think about. Most all quality components are basically under rated and will take tolerances that are higher than what they are rated for. You also need to take into consideration how exactly you are stressing them i.e. over volting to an extreme, can have negative effects on other components, using an underpowered PSU, etc. A well put together OC'ed system can run for years. Take the Q6600 CPU, it came out as a 2.4 GHz on a 1066 FSB and it's long been an OCer's dream, I've got a number of them I've built still out running at 3.6 GHz 24/7. Same w/ RAM, it can be OCed fairly easily and safely as long as you use quality components throughout.

[jay]

Alright thanks, I suppose each system responds different in the long term. My previous one was a cheapy AMD3500/asrock. Didn't last more than 15 months with a slight overclock/volt (Zalman cooler).

If the CPU becomes obsolete in gaming I guess I'll OC a bit.. Hopefully the G.Skill/Asus setup will last >3 years

[Tradesman]

I'd hope so, and if needed the 1366 socket should be around for awhile and prices will go down, so a CPU upgrade down the road isn't out of the question either. Might want to keep an eye on BIOS updates for the mobo, you can, at times, find some performance boost in those also.