im wondering if i should play in low or high settings because..

playing in high graphic settings increase both power and heat on my computer. will this contribute to wear & tear?

if i always play in lower graphic settings, will it helps to prolong my computer lifespan due to lesser heat?

sure you might not burn through the equipment...You need to find a balance, what's the point in spending the money on a rig that can play on high, if your setteling for low to get a few extra months out of it

I run all my games on high. As long as your temperatures are kept at a respectable level it doesn't really matter if you choose low or high.

DieselSS said: I run all my games on high. As long as your temperatures are kept at a respectable level it doesn't really matter if you choose low or high.

It depends if his system can run it on high or not.

You should aim for the settings which give you the best visual as well as the best fps.

As for the difference in playing in high or low when it comes to heat or power, it should be the same unless you have vsync on when playing low (fps increases with low graphics and your gpu still gets max usuage unless you encounter cpu bottlenecking due to the high number of frames it has to render).

Ahem, Choose low if you have hardware that allows you to get better FPS. If your running GTX690's who cares run on high all the time. Mine can run at high but choose certain lower settings because I like it.

If it can take the high settings let it do its thing... just get a cooling pad if it is a laptop...

ThrobSteele said: sure you might not burn through the equipment...You need to find a balance, what's the point in spending the money on a rig that can play on high, if your setteling for low to get a few extra months out of it

This. If you're not going to use it to its capacity, you might as well not have bought it. As everyone mentioned, what's most important are your temperatuers. Your equipment will survive as long as it doesn't burn up.

quanfu said: im wondering if i should play in low or high settings because..

playing in high graphic settings increase both power and heat on my computer. will this contribute to wear & tear?

if i always play in lower graphic settings, will it helps to prolong my computer lifespan due to lesser heat?

What kind of question is that?! It's like buying a Ferrari and asking us if you should drive it only at the speed limit! I'm only kidding... :]

If you're worried about the temperature, just buy a cooling pad. Your PC was build for high performance, which it will handle high settings like a champ.

if your pc can run it on high with not to high temps you should be good

Depending on whether the game is multiplayer or not it may be best to go low or single player high.

Yes half a second of difference is still a difference online.

I always use the highest setting possible that still provides me with smooth gameplay. I have never had a computer stop working due to heat damage, but I always keep the fans clean and use cooling pads.