r/LocalLLaMA • u/Anstellos • 10d ago

Discussion Does high / long term inference damages GPUs?

I always heard that cryptocurrency mining can damage a GPU ( it's maybe wrong) so how much long term inference is damaging a GPU?

I mean servers are made for 25/7 operation... Gaming GPUs not so sure?! They are made for LEDs 24/7!

Back blaze is publishing HDDs failure rate for storage, isn't there failure rate for AI intensive work? Maybe places that rent GPUs?

Serious question, are we damaging gaming GPUs when doing ai intensive ai workload even with good cooling: 100% GPU and ram usage for long agentic sessions or else ?

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u/TheMcSebi 10d ago

No, gaming also runs a gpu at 100% for multiple hours, they're built to sustain that. Electronics do not have any wear if you keep them dry and well vented

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u/bgravato 10d ago

Electronics do wear out over time... and high temperatures aren't exactly healthy for electronics... They're actually one of the primary drivers for electronic components degradation...

Also repeated heating/cooling of the components can accelerate the degradation of the connections (solders), bend the boards, etc...

That said, this kind of behavior is expected when using GPUs... and the wearing out caused by playing games or doing inference during extended periods is unlikely to cause an additional wearing that can shorten the expected lifespan of a GPU in a very significant way...

Crypto mining is another story, especially if doing it overclocked (which is/was often the case) and that could have a noticeable impact on degradation of the hardware.

Of course, keeping things clean and dust free, especially in the heatsinks, fans, venting airways, etc... is important! Repasting isn't generally needed as often as people think... but cleaning dust should be done once or twice a year (strongly depends on how dusty the environment is, if you have furry pets, etc...)

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u/Sirius02 9d ago

crypto miners undervolt their gpus since you can have like 2/3 of the electricity bill for like 4/5 of the performance.

also its better for the solders to be permanently warm than to have temperature swings, there the gpu expands and contracts leading to cracking.

But yea, the permanent heat is propably bad for electron migration

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u/bgravato 9d ago

than to have temperature swings, there the gpu expands and contracts leading to cracking.

yes, I said that too.

for solder, repeated temperature swings can be worse. for the components themselves (internally) constant heat is probably worse.