How does the temperature of a computer effect its performance?
In: Technology
Heat can warp the PCB (the thing that all the chips and parts are attached to), it can damage [capacitors](https://www.job-elektronik.de/WebRoot/Store11/Shops/15436648/587E/AF50/AAE3/267C/C997/C0A8/2BB9/DC4B/elko_470_25v.jpg) which then leak corrosive liquid all over the computer, and it can damage the fragile solder joints that connect the chips to the PCB.
But CPUs and GPUs are usually designed so they run at their highest speed at high temperature. So there isn’t any performance impact all the way until it runs into its thermal protection mechanism, which slows down the clock speed. That is why an overheating laptop will run fast until it suddenly slows to a crawl.
For overclocking, better cooling allows more heat to be produced without overheating. That makes it possible to raise the voltage, which in turn allows a higher clockspeed. That is why overclocking records use liquid nitrogen or even liquid helium to cool the part down as much as possible: This way, they can raise the voltage to levels which would otherwise immediately overheat or even kill the CPU.
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