Is encoding bad for your PC?

[street1030]

I just started encoding blurays and it takes about 24 hours to finish one encode. Can having your computer under 100% cpu usage for that amount of time regularly damage any of my computer components? I'm monitoring my hardware temps and nothing is running hot. Just wondering if the strain or uptime can do any harm.

[CWR03]

The heat generated during an encode as well as the constant hard drive reading/writing will probably shorten the life, but at the rate computers are advancing your hardware will likely become obsolete before it will fail. Uptime has never been an issue for me - I have several PCs that have run over 5 years non-stop and never had any sort of issue. I open them up every six months or so and vacuum them clean.

[laserfan]

CWR03 is right, and particularly wrt keeping things clean (fans/intakes especially, but if you vacuum the innards take care not to generate any arc-y sparkies i.e. static discharges). So long as you say 'nothing is running hot' your PC should be happy to work hard as it is designed to do. :)

[GEFORCEXTREME]

Don't worry about the heat, I on my computer for 24/7/365 and it still is not dead yet (P4).

[audyovydeo]

I think the first poster's question is best answered by :

And some say liquor kills the cells in your head,
And for that matter so does getting out of bed

cheers,
audyovydeo

[Soulhunter]

Is encoding bad for your PC?
Absolutely! The same way taking pictures is bad for your DSLR and watching TV is bad for ya LCD... :devil:

[Ghitulescu]

Absolutely! The same way taking pictures is bad for your DSLR and watching TV is bad for ya LCD... :devil:

Just a short OT-comment: an entry level DSLR has at most 35000 shots, a semiprofi starts at 50000 and a heavy profi one can be used for at least 150'000 shots (they have a mechanical shutter). Of course they can be further used, but the precision won't be guaranteed. And a LCD running non-stop will eventually start developing bad pixels (heat).

[Soulhunter]

I know, but my point was: This stuff is made to be used (that's the reason you got it), not to "collect dust" until its outdated and "needs to be" replaced! Ok, the PC/DSLR/LCD won't last 10 years when heavily used, but does it really matter when you probably gonna replace it in 2-5 years anyway? Everything else is wasted money imo... :/

[Ghitulescu]

I know, but my point was: This stuff is made to be used (that's the reason you got it), not to "collect dust" until its outdated and "needs to be" replaced! Ok, the PC/DSLR/LCD won't last 10 years when heavily used, but does it really matter when you probably gonna replace it in 2-5 years anyway? Everything else is wasted money imo... :/

For computers, yes, it's true - they "grow old" the very next day you bought them.

On the other hand a part of this conspiracy is played also by the manufacturers, which either develop new standards to force you upgrade, or design and manufacture the products so you'd be anyway forced to buy another one ASAP.

So, as I said long time ago and someone repeated here, if the thermal flow is correctly realised, your PC can run 365/24/7, as the heat is the cancer of electronics. The only part that get sick sooner is the HDD (and any other mechanical device, like fans).

[Soulhunter]

For computers, yes, it's true - they "grow old" the very next day you bought them.

On the other hand a part of this conspiracy is played also by the manufacturers, which either develop new standards to force you upgrade, or design and manufacture the products so you'd be anyway forced to buy another one ASAP.
True! But on the other hand...
Would you still like to play pixel-sprite based games, or encode videos via MPEG1? >;D

[CWR03]

The only part that get sick sooner is the HDD
Strangely, I've never had a hard drive fail while in use. I've upgraded components and removed a drive to later pull it out to retrieve data off it and found it dead. That's happened several times now.

Would you still like to play pixel-sprite based games
I still play Doom2, in fact if you know a good Dungeons of Daggorath emulator...