Heat does indeed kill electronics, or at least reduce mtbf. However, if the equipment is well designed from a thermal management/heat sinking standpoint, and if parts such as electrolytic capacitors whose mtbf may be particularly heat sensitive are well chosen, the effects of heat will not become significant until temperatures are reached that are much higher than might be expected.
Those are very big "if's," of course. And I would not expect that small manufacturers of high end equipment will always or even usually have thermal design specialists on staff, not to mention that providing conservative design margins will tend to increase the cost of the product.
But to provide some perspective, commercial grade integrated circuits are most commonly rated for ambient operating temperatures of 0 to 70 degC, that being conditional in the case of higher powered devices on heat sinking provisions that maintain reasonable junction temperatures. 70 degC = 158 degF! Specifications for integrated circuits used in military avionics usually require an ambient operating temperature range of -55 to +125 degC. 125 degC = 257 degF! (Although keep in mind that "ambient" for each device means the nearby temperature inside the case of the equipment, not the external air temperature).
Devices that consume large amounts of power, such as computer cpu's, usually have considerably lower ambient temperature ratings than those numbers, but they are still higher than one might expect. Current Intel quad-core desktop cpu's have a TDP (thermal design power) of 130 watts. It boggles my mind that so much power can be dissipated in such a small package, even with the special heat sink and fan that is required. Consider how hot a 100W light bulb gets, the bulb being considerably larger than a cpu chip!
Addressing Magfan's point about the fact that computer enthusiasts (I am one one of them) pursue exotic cooling solutions, the reason for that is not to extend life but to optimize overclocking ability (running the cpu at faster than its rated speed, which enthusiast-oriented motherboards make possible). Faster speed = higher power consumption and higher internal temperatures, and higher internal temperatures will limit the maximum speed at which the cpu can be operated without crashes.
Overclocked cpu's utilizing good aftermarket cooling devices typically run reliably for many years with internal junction temperatures in the area of 40 degC (104 degF) when idle, and 75 degC (167 degF) to 90 degC (194 degF) when performing intensive processing.
Best regards,
-- Al
Those are very big "if's," of course. And I would not expect that small manufacturers of high end equipment will always or even usually have thermal design specialists on staff, not to mention that providing conservative design margins will tend to increase the cost of the product.
But to provide some perspective, commercial grade integrated circuits are most commonly rated for ambient operating temperatures of 0 to 70 degC, that being conditional in the case of higher powered devices on heat sinking provisions that maintain reasonable junction temperatures. 70 degC = 158 degF! Specifications for integrated circuits used in military avionics usually require an ambient operating temperature range of -55 to +125 degC. 125 degC = 257 degF! (Although keep in mind that "ambient" for each device means the nearby temperature inside the case of the equipment, not the external air temperature).
Devices that consume large amounts of power, such as computer cpu's, usually have considerably lower ambient temperature ratings than those numbers, but they are still higher than one might expect. Current Intel quad-core desktop cpu's have a TDP (thermal design power) of 130 watts. It boggles my mind that so much power can be dissipated in such a small package, even with the special heat sink and fan that is required. Consider how hot a 100W light bulb gets, the bulb being considerably larger than a cpu chip!
Addressing Magfan's point about the fact that computer enthusiasts (I am one one of them) pursue exotic cooling solutions, the reason for that is not to extend life but to optimize overclocking ability (running the cpu at faster than its rated speed, which enthusiast-oriented motherboards make possible). Faster speed = higher power consumption and higher internal temperatures, and higher internal temperatures will limit the maximum speed at which the cpu can be operated without crashes.
Overclocked cpu's utilizing good aftermarket cooling devices typically run reliably for many years with internal junction temperatures in the area of 40 degC (104 degF) when idle, and 75 degC (167 degF) to 90 degC (194 degF) when performing intensive processing.
Best regards,
-- Al