will the age of hardware make your computer run more slowly?

[jjcfootball]

will the age of hardware make your computer run more slowly

[Salmon Trout]

Another pointless "poll"... Do you mean:

Will an old computer run the same programs more slowly than it did when it was new? Answer: No, probably.

Will an old computer run the same programs more slowly than a new computer with faster hardware? Answer: Yes, probably.

Will an old computer run some modern programs more slowly than a new computer with faster hardware? Answer: Yes, probably.

[DaveLembke]

will the age of hardware make your computer run more slowly

Many factors to account for here that affect speed...

The biggest thing that I have seen slow computers down is not the age of the hardware, but the numerous security/system patches that the computer goes through in its lifetime.

A good example is my 11 year old eMachine that is a 2002 model running a Pentium 4 socket 478 2Ghz CPU with 1GB DDR 266Mhz RAM on a 60GB IDE Hard Drive. I noticed a significant slow down of performance after the 119 updates that were installed from microsoft.

System clean build was running Windows XP Pro SP2 fresh from install nice and fast. Ran a system benchmark using the trial benchmark called Passmark. It gave my system a score of 211.

Ran all security updates including latest IE for XP Pro as well as brought it forward to SP3 and newer .Net Framework etc, about 119 updates in all!

Did not install any other software, system is still clean build, but now fully patched.

Ran benchmark on my system again and it scored lower and from its slower response times to navigating and opening programs I already knew it was going to score poorer than it did initially clean Windows XP SP2, now at Windows XP SP3 and fully patched.

The new benchmark was a score of 184. Ran benchmark again and it was once again 184 to make sure I wouldnt get different results.

Looking here, the average benchmark for my CPU in this 2002 model computer is 190. So if I ran it without updates it would run faster, but would be way less secure!  Benchmark info here: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+4+2.00GHz

If I had a very early licensed copy of Windows XP prior to SP1, it would be interesting if it scores way higher than 211, maybe 230. But it would be prime meat for a hacker! 

*Hardware does not slow down on its own due to age unless components fail. The biggest thing that slows computers down is increased workload over time, mainly system updates, and newer software with higher resource demands, but also can be due to drive fragmentation etc as well as after about 9 months its always good to blow away a system install after backing up data and starting fresh again.

This computer can be upgraded to 2GB RAM, and I tested Windows 7 32-bit on it out of curiosity, and the biggest issue with Windows 7 32-bit on this 2002 model computer was finding a graphics driver for the Integrated Intel 845 chipset which support ended at XP. I did happen to get an XP driver installed under Windows 7 32-bit, but this system was really really slow at running Windows 7 32-bit on 1GB RAM and that old single-core which was never designed to run an OS so distant in the future from its original design.

BUT: This system runs Linux Mint 14 32-bit cinnamon very well. So I have actually been using it as my Linux Mint 14 computer instead of Windows XP and it runs Linux Mint nice and fast on this 11 year old computer, and that is fully patched as well! 

[Geek-9pm]

*Hardware does not slow down on its own due to age unless components fail. The biggest thing that slows computers down is increased workload over time, mainly system updates, but also can be due to drive fragmentation etc as well as after about 9 months its always good to blow away a system install after backing up data and starting fresh again.

This sounds like fun... but...
The above comment sis pointless. It does not represent the right answer because the question was either wrong to begin with or it was not concisely stated.
Computers are  not built, tested and verified on conjecture, seat of the pants hunch and urban legends.
Fact: Electronic components do age. As to aging and speed, one needs to specify a case history that can be verified by objective measurements.

[BC_Programmer]

Fact: Electronic components do age. As to aging and speed, one needs to specify a case history that can be verified by objective measurements.

Very true. Fundamentally, hardware wise I think it's more along the lines of either the computer working, or not working at all; that is, failing components cause the entire thing to stop working. a failure or aging process causing a slowdown is equally likely to it causing the system to speed up.

Most speed differences are going to be the result if simply piling on more software over time, and a fresh format and install will usually restore it back to the same "speed" as when it was new.

[Salmon Trout]

I suspect the OP, who is most likely long gone, really meant to ask "My computer is running slowly and I wonder if it is simply because it is old, or is there anything I can do about it?" but I could be wrong. It could be his school pal told him that computers get slower and slower as they age until finally they stop, and he wants to verify this.

[Geek-9pm]

I will agree with everybody.
Perhaps I was a little harsh.
The OP could framed the question another way. Perhaps something like this:

Some say that computers get slower as they age rate nof about e.
Would you agree one of  the following
A. Mechanical and Electronic material all age at about #5 per year that makes them slower.
B. No, rather updates and new software make older hardware work slower.
C. none of the above, it is only a perception of the user.


There are case studies of commercial installations, specifically hospitals , where equipment was not well maintained and nit got slower. But I think the OP meant PCs in a home environment.

[patio]

In many instances the age of the User will slow the PC down...