Does underclocking reduce power consumption?

[xpeh]

I have an Athlon II X4 645 CPU, 6GB of 1066Mhz DDR3 (Two sticks of 3GB), a CD/DVD drive, and a regular MicroATX motherboard. But I only have a 250 watt PSU. I want to insert an old passively cooled 7300GT from MSI to give my desktop a little performance boost. Will underclocking (Rivatuner) my 7300GT reduce heat and power consumption? I don't have an extra power supply and I don't want to buy one.

 

[hunter315]

What graphics card/IGP are you currently using? The 7300 GT is very low end, and quite old at this point so many modern integrated graphics chip perform quite similarly to it so its not going to give a significant boost so it might not be worth it to bother, but yes underclocking it will reduce its power consumption, but under volting your CPU a little will likely be a more significant way to reduce power consumption since it has a higher power consumption than the 7300 GT.

 

[xpeh]

What graphics card/IGP are you currently using? The 7300 GT is very low end, and quite old at this point so many modern integrated graphics chip perform quite similarly to it so its not going to give a significant boost so it might not be worth it to bother, but yes underclocking it will reduce its power consumption, but under volting your CPU a little will likely be a more significant way to reduce power consumption since it has a higher power consumption than the 7300 GT.

My current integrated card is an ATI Radeon 4250, and it can only play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on all the lowest settings at 800X400. I've played it on high with my 7300GT back when I was using. The 7300GT should give me MUCH better performance. I just need it to play Minecraft and Pre-2006 games.

Also, this isn't a custom built computer. It already came with a cheap ECS MicroATX board and the Athlon II X4 645. Is it possible to undervolt the CPU? I've never undervolted before.

 

[ko888]

What is the brand and model of your 250 Watt PSU?

If your 250 watt PSU has a +12 Volt continuous current rating of 15 Amps or greater you shouldn't need to underclock.

 

[omega21xx]

If this is a prebuilt, you may not have cpu under/overclock options. underclocking is the same process as overclocking except your goal is lower speed and power draw. just lower and test away, never heard of hurting anything through undervolting.

 

[jyjjy]

The 7300GT uses very little power as is. I don't think underclocking/volting will make much of a difference.

 

[xpeh]

Best answer selected by XPEH.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey