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Can keeping my CPU speed at “high performance/turbo” all the time decrease its lifespan?

And if so, what would be its expected route of failure if it does happen?

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Can you elaborate a little on what you are using to keep you CPU at "high performance"? Are you overclocking the CPU manually or are you talking about an OEM power profile at the OS level? – sbtkd85 Jul 25 '11 at 19:10
Just an OEM power profile at the OS level. – InquilineKea Jul 25 '11 at 22:28
I'm also wondering about the super-long term future, like if a CPU processor could last 10-15 years – InquilineKea Jul 25 '11 at 22:28
What’s an OEM power profile? – Synetech Aug 15 '11 at 3:58
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If the processor cooling system meets the required spec and keeps the CPU below its maximum thermal limit then there should be no issues. The main risk, as you may gather, is a catastrophic overheating, leading to a thermal failure but, in reality, most modern CPUs will start to lower their internal clock speed (to reduce heat generation) before this happens, but you may still find that an overheating processor leads to system instability and random crashes.

Overclocking your system (running the CPU at more than its rated frequency) can increase thermal instability due to additional heat generation and may increase the chances of an overheat condition if the cooling system is not uprated for the additional heat..

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Overclocking will make your CPU hot so make sure:

-your temperatures are kept low

-the PC is kept clean to maintain these temperatures

As long as you keep the above in mind, overclocking it for a long time should not affect too adversely.

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