"Burning" in a cpu?

[bmxfreakrider]

I didn't really think this would qualify in the hardware section, so here we are in Off Topic. After just recently purchasing a new computer(well, the internals of it ), i was wondering about the "Burn In" of the cpu, and decided to google it. After reading for a good 30min or so, i still couldn't find reasonable evidence on whether or not to "Burn In" a cpu. What is your guys personal opinion on this?

 

[Keadonen]

melt it

 

[Win2kpatcher]

that is only for those real computer dorks not us cool computer dorks.

 

[Trotter]

Some swear to it, saying it settles in the AS5

I look at it like breaking in a car... it's not really needed. If a car has to be broken in, then something wasn't put together right.

Same thing applies here.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

yea, lol. ill accept that, i guess. but what does it actually do to it? ive heard so far it helps with future overclocks letting it be more stable at higher FSB

 

[Snake-Eyes]

Think of a rubber band. Brand new, you can stretch them out, and keep going a little bit, because it's getting used to the use. Burning in a CPU, RAM, a car, anything, is the same idea. Just getting it used to heavy use.

I personally like burn-in tests for a short while when i first get a new computer, although i don't swear by it.

 

[Nubius]

I look at it like breaking in a car... it's not really needed. If a car has to be broken in, then something wasn't put together right.

Same thing applies here

I've gotta disagree there. I'd say it's more like fresh guitar strings. They require playing on them so they'll stretch out and require fine tuning for that first week while they do so. After they get settled in they sound beautiful and it has nothing to do with being "built right" the first time around.

The purpose of burning in is to get the transistors nice and toasty and have them expand thanks to the heat. This might in some cases enable the CPU to want to OC a little further than before.

I've had mixed results. With my 6600GT it seemed to work quite well as I had hit an OC'ing wall until I let that sucker heat up for a while then it seemed to climb quite a bit after that.

On the contrary, I toasted up my opty and venice CPU's and never noticed any difference in OC'ing so who knows.

 

[Disillusion]

Some swear to it, saying it settles in the AS5

I look at it like breaking in a car... it's not really needed. If a car has to be broken in, then something wasn't put together right.

Same thing applies here.

Breaking in a car's engine is most certainly needed. You are working with metal on metal parts. THE most important thing about breaking an engine in is to get the piston rings seated correctly. If you don't, they won't seal like they should and the engine will have a shorter life and less power.

With a CPU, I really have no idea if "burn in" is necessary. Unless it's doing something to the silicone by heating it up.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

so basically what ive heard so far on here, and i did some more googling when i woke up this morning, is you can achive a higher overclock by burning it in. ive somewhere read that some guy lowered his voltages a little and started to overclock with lowered voltages, and when he put them back to stock he got a higher overclocl on stock voltages than when it was new. i don't know how, but i guess it makes sense, kinda