I OC-ed my barton 2500+ 1.83ghz to 2.05ghz.

changed some FSB (multiplier unchanged) and vcore voltage.

tested it for 48 hours using OCCT, Super pi, prime95, etc.

even did benchmark with 3dmark2005, etc.

it's rock stable for years, well, 1 and a half years to be exact.

but recently, one of my ram died, memtest showed crap load of errors, so I junked it and bought new rams, problem solved.

........... and then.........

my newly formatted winXP system starts acting up, nothing serious like reboot or freeze or anything, but stuff like:

1. Browsers crashing, firefox and IE7, different modules crashing everytime, ask me to send report and sh*t, same old boring useless warning.

2. Add/remove program sub module crashes. Which mean I cant open add/remove program without it crashing.

3. Setup files and applications I downloaded that used to work now start giving me strange errors (ex: The file is corrupted, plz redownload and sh*t)

No, it's not viruses or spyware, I've checked VERY VERY thoroughly. (hijackthis, AVG, ada-ware, registry, everything)

It's a newly formatted system, keep that in mind, and I have not browse or downloaded much with it.

Thing is .........

I've switched it back to default clock now, and the problem seems to go away, time will tell .........

But my question is: Is it possible that a stable OC system start crapping out after some time have passed? Years perhaps?

I mean, running those "un-recommended" voltage and settings for so many years could "eat something up" in the circuitry or something.

I know the old saying: "an OC-ed system will have shorter life span" bla bla bla.

But is this true in my case?

Yes, this situation is normal where stressed parts get less efficient after some time.

In other names..your proc already pedih with the stress.And it cannot tahan so release the pain.Its normal though.

OC-ed system will have shorter life span if you don't know how to take care of it ...
Don't always stress over the safe temperature ..

aged parts particularly show dis kinda symptom,its like ur forcing an old man to do a young man's job

dis is scary..like amedion said..always stress within safe temp..but i dunno at what temp can be called safe..i heard someone said that max between 60-70(intel)..others said 55 is hot enuf..rite now i run my e6750 with 3.6ghz..temp at full load around 53-54..dun care about d max temp already

Its not just the temps, but even if you run on phase cooling with subzero temps, the extra voltage is going to shorten your procs lifespan.

i think its the RAM, diff. batches of got diff. ability in OC
its not the rig goin' crapping..

Its already more than 5 years overclock. Maybe got a little crapping.

its usual for component to degrade after subjected to high operating parameters.......

btw temperature usually is not the key factor since u being runnig the system for years

Cooler temperature helps with the life time too.

Owhhh...i think i better start counting my hardwares lifespan now...

is there any way to calculate lifespan?

I think there's no way even there's a way mostly lifespan of a hardware around 5-10 Years..MOSTLY..

maybe mobo caps.. coz old mobo not use solid type..
sometimes in the PSU.. slight voltage changes will damage other hardware..

time to change proc...yehaaaaaa

QX9770 anyone..

The heat might be the contributing factor I believe

but a 200mhz overclock. i dont see the point. if u oc, sure its for gaining noticeable performance boost/or better benchmarking scores.

in this case, u 'crap out' ur system for erm...0.001 second improvement in <insert application here>

look scary...i wish didnt happen to my e6750..hihi...
haiyoo..wanna downclock back laa like that..PLAY SAFE

my intel 1.8A system is coming to 6 years and it is still oc to 2.4ghz everyday running 24x7.

none of the problems as you stated occured.

so i guess it is intel chip last longer than amd chip due to engineering skill.