High power draw brings a couple of disadvantages: it reduces the CPU’s lifespan, increases heat output, and leads to higher electricity bills. To get that temperature sweet spot, users can undervolt their CPUs. This is done by lowering voltage requirements while maintaining the same CPU speeds. In some cases, the core clock frequency can be reduced for even lower power consumption. Here’s a video from Optimum Tech explaining the benefits and safety of undervolting: So, undervolting for small-form-factor cases, laptops, or console-like devices can be extremely useful. Playing around with a CPU’s power draw in BIOS can be a scary thought for most people. Note that lower voltage may cause system instability (crashes, stutters, or freezes), but it will not damage the CPU.īut, undervolting compared to overclocking is relatively safe since it effectively reduces the CPU strain on the CPU. Software with single-threaded and multi-threaded benchmarks.Monitoring software for temperature, CPU clock, voltage, and power reading.What You Will Needīefore we can start this guide, there are a few things you need to have ready: And if you do face instability, you can always reset back to defaults. This is necessary to understand the performance drop-off from the undervolt. Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU).Any kind of document where you can submit your readings.– Recommended: Cinebench R20 or Cinebench R23. It’s time to set a baseline which will be used later to figure out the performance detriment from the undervolt. The less performance you lose, the better. So, first, you’ll need to write down your idle power numbers. Then, close any application/program on your computer except HWiNFO.

Tuning utility