4 ms·

Is hardware (motherboard, CPU, memory) that good nowadays that one can expect it to last 30 years. I don't think it's designed with that kind of lifetime in min

by Jolijn 12y ago

Is hardware (motherboard, CPU, memory) that good nowadays that one can expect it to last 30 years. I don't think it's designed with that kind of lifetime in mind.

dperny 12y ago
I mean, this is server hardware. One of the major differences between server hardware and desktop hardware is build quality. I've got a ten-year-old 1/2U rack server sitting in a closet that I bought for pennies at a surplus auction that still runs great.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- jethro_tell 12y ago
  Server hardware is usually obsolete long before it stops working.
- mahyarm 12y ago
  But would it really last 30 years with such things as lead-free solder?
  - moe 12y ago
    We will probably have to wait 30 years to really know. FWIW, lots of hardware from ~30 years ago still works. I have a 27 year old Amiga500 that still boots fine (many of the floppy disks have become unreadable, though). You can buy fully working vintage computers much older than that on eBay.
    - vacri 12y ago
      30 years of constant/daily use is different from a few years of use, then pulling out of mothballs as a curio every now and then.
  - sokoloff 12y ago
    A server that's 10 years old now was likely made with leaded solder.
- eitland 12y ago
  I've seen DL380 G5 giving in a few years ago already. (I still love those machines except they seem to boot slower each generation.)
sliverstorm 12y ago
To my knowledge, the most common guarantee target is 5 years. Equipment can last much longer or much shorter, both as a function of chance and of workload. 30 years would be exceptional if the machine spent its life at the 5-year-target load.
beachstartup 12y ago
we don't exactly run the biggest operation, but in our experience the most common failure items in thousands-of-years-of-cumulative-uptime is network interface cards (or on-motherboard network interfaces) and hdd's. RAID controllers fail left and right. we keep tons of spares around. ssd's fail few and far between, cpus basically do not fail, and memory can go bad but it's exceedingly rare and easy to fix. psu's fail but are easy to fix in modern computers as well (slide-out, redundant, etc.) having said all that, heat is the primary killer of hardware. if you run a lot of equipment in a dense environment, get a laser thermometer and find your hot spots and fix them with some industrial fans or move your gear around. once your stuff gets hot anything can fail in weird and mysterious ways.
- Matumio 12y ago
  How do network cards fail? Simply as if you cut the link? Or can you see error counters increasing and sporadic frame loss that gets worse over time?
  - danpat 12y ago
    Depends on which bit fails, but increases in packet loss are a common early symptom of small components no longer acting within their specs. Network cards are subject to lots of signal phenomena that are rare inside the chassis. Long cables are pretty good antennas for certain types of RF signals, so there are all kinds of electrical noises, induced power spikes and other miscellaneous garbage that the network card has to tolerate. Well-shielded cables can help protect the card, but it's definitely one interface that's subject to a bit more electrical abuse than the rest. Components that have been stressed beyond their tolerances a few times can result in things like signal filters having a lower noise threshold, which makes it harder for the card to pick out the signal from the noise, which leads to more packet loss. After enough abuse, the threshold drops below the usable level and communications halt. There are lots of factors involved, such as shielding, proximity to nearby radiators, bend radius in cables, cable length, temperature, etc, etc. Whenever I delve into this world, I'm often amazed that anything works at all.
  - beachstartup 12y ago

by Jolijn 12y ago

Is hardware (motherboard, CPU, memory) that good nowadays that one can expect it to last 30 years. I don't think it's designed with that kind of lifetime in mind.

dperny 12y ago

I mean, this is server hardware. One of the major differences between server hardware and desktop hardware is build quality. I've got a ten-year-old 1/2U rack server sitting in a closet that I bought for pennies at a surplus auction that still runs great.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
jethro_tell 12y ago
Server hardware is usually obsolete long before it stops working.
mahyarm 12y ago
But would it really last 30 years with such things as lead-free solder?
- moe 12y ago
  We will probably have to wait 30 years to really know. FWIW, lots of hardware from ~30 years ago still works. I have a 27 year old Amiga500 that still boots fine (many of the floppy disks have become unreadable, though). You can buy fully working vintage computers much older than that on eBay.
  - vacri 12y ago
    30 years of constant/daily use is different from a few years of use, then pulling out of mothballs as a curio every now and then.
- sokoloff 12y ago
  A server that's 10 years old now was likely made with leaded solder.
eitland 12y ago
I've seen DL380 G5 giving in a few years ago already. (I still love those machines except they seem to boot slower each generation.)

sliverstorm 12y ago

To my knowledge, the most common guarantee target is 5 years. Equipment can last much longer or much shorter, both as a function of chance and of workload. 30 years would be exceptional if the machine spent its life at the 5-year-target load.

beachstartup 12y ago

we don't exactly run the biggest operation, but in our experience the most common failure items in thousands-of-years-of-cumulative-uptime is network interface cards (or on-motherboard network interfaces) and hdd's. RAID controllers fail left and right. we keep tons of spares around. ssd's fail few and far between, cpus basically do not fail, and memory can go bad but it's exceedingly rare and easy to fix. psu's fail but are easy to fix in modern computers as well (slide-out, redundant, etc.) having said all that, heat is the primary killer of hardware. if you run a lot of equipment in a dense environment, get a laser thermometer and find your hot spots and fix them with some industrial fans or move your gear around. once your stuff gets hot anything can fail in weird and mysterious ways.

Matumio 12y ago
How do network cards fail? Simply as if you cut the link? Or can you see error counters increasing and sporadic frame loss that gets worse over time?
- danpat 12y ago
  Depends on which bit fails, but increases in packet loss are a common early symptom of small components no longer acting within their specs. Network cards are subject to lots of signal phenomena that are rare inside the chassis. Long cables are pretty good antennas for certain types of RF signals, so there are all kinds of electrical noises, induced power spikes and other miscellaneous garbage that the network card has to tolerate. Well-shielded cables can help protect the card, but it's definitely one interface that's subject to a bit more electrical abuse than the rest. Components that have been stressed beyond their tolerances a few times can result in things like signal filters having a lower noise threshold, which makes it harder for the card to pick out the signal from the noise, which leads to more packet loss. After enough abuse, the threshold drops below the usable level and communications halt. There are lots of factors involved, such as shielding, proximity to nearby radiators, bend radius in cables, cable length, temperature, etc, etc. Whenever I delve into this world, I'm often amazed that anything works at all.
- beachstartup 12y ago