🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov05.024950.15606@kksys.com> gk@kksys.com (Greg Kemnitz) writes:
>I really am open to considering the alternative viewpoint.  But please back
>it with specifics that show that the problem exists, not merely that it
>COULD exist.

It is a known fact that the cooler a semiconductor device runs, the longer
it will last.  The question is if the extended life will be of use to you.
If you are planning on keeping your PC for only 3 years and it will last
4 or 5 with no CPU cooler, why spend the money to extend it's life to 
7 or 8 years?  I believe that this is the case for most of the PC's, which
end up in use by businesses and are replaced in short order.

But the majority of readers of this group who would consider buying
a cooler for our PC are probably installing it on a personal machine
at home, and intend on keeping the machine for more than a few short
years.  Then long term reliability must be considered.

Look at it this way.  About a year ago I spent $3200 for a good quality
486/33 system.  If the cooler is $30, that is less than one percent of
the cost of the system.  If it extends the life of my system by more
than 1%, then it pays for itself.  And since it is my own system at home,
and I intend on keeping it for a good long time (that's why I got a 486/33,
so it wouldn't be obsolete so fast) it is very likely that it will get
to an age where long term heat problems may cause failure.  In short, in
this situation, I think that the $30 is worth the extended life.

I guess a more meaningful calculation would be to use the price
of the CPU.  Grabbing the first (and probably overpriced) catalog
on my desk, I see they want $500 for a 486/33 (that seems a high, but
I'll use that number as an example).  So $30 for a cooler is 6% of the
price of the CPU, so if it extends the CPU's life by more than 6%, it
has paid for itself in economical terms.  (And I am sure that it will
extend the life by at least 6%).   But again, this only matters if
you plan on keeping your PC long enough that long term heat induced
problems might occur.  I do...