[SOLVED] Does undervolt make the CPU last longer over time? Is it possible to get the same performance but setting a lower voltage?

[Grealish01]

good morning I have an i5-12600k and right now I don't need all the computing power it can give me, I was asking you about the, undervolt if I can do it now and maybe it will bring me advantages in the future when between 4/5/6 I will raise l undervolt or even overclock as I do things that require more and more computing power. I don't know if I mean my reasoning is like saying: I preserve something now so that in the future it will still be beautiful "herringbone" and it will work even better. Here I ask you if this can happen with the undervolt? Or if I want to keep the PC performing over the years, you don't need the undervolt, but maybe other things

 

[DSzymborski]

There's no point to an undervolt for the sake of an undervolt. It doesnt add life, it just costs performance here.

 

[Karadjgne]

Technically speaking, running lower voltages will prolong the life of any electronic device, whether that's cpu or storage, as long as the amperage don't climb as a result.

The biggest issue with cpu longetivity isn't physical death due to old age, it's generally 1 of 2 things. Either supporting component death, such as the caps on the motherboard failing, rendering the cpu useless, or software death. Good luck trying to run a pentium 4 with 4Gb of ram and windows 11.

There's cpus out there still up and running that are well over 20 years old, my pentium II 350 was overclocked to 400MHz for its entire lifespan, was still working when I got rid of it, last year.

So chances of an undervolt affecting the usable lifespan of your pc.... As close to Nil as you can reasonably get.

 

[Grealish01]

Technically speaking, running lower voltages will prolong the life of any electronic device, whether that's cpu or storage, as long as the amperage don't climb as a result.

The biggest issue with cpu longetivity isn't physical death due to old age, it's generally 1 of 2 things. Either supporting component death, such as the caps on the motherboard failing, rendering the cpu useless, or software death. Good luck trying to run a pentium 4 with 4Gb of ram and windows 11.

There's cpus out there still up and running that are well over 20 years old, my pentium II 350 was overclocked to 400MHz for its entire lifespan, was still working when I got rid of it, last year.

So chances of an undervolt affecting the usable lifespan of your pc.... As close to Nil as you can reasonably get.

Thanks, yes I understand, in my case would you do it or would you leave it alone? (undervolt done right)

 

[Grealish01]

Technically speaking, running lower voltages will prolong the life of any electronic device, whether that's cpu or storage, as long as the amperage don't climb as a result.

The biggest issue with cpu longetivity isn't physical death due to old age, it's generally 1 of 2 things. Either supporting component death, such as the caps on the motherboard failing, rendering the cpu useless, or software death. Good luck trying to run a pentium 4 with 4Gb of ram and windows 11.

There's cpus out there still up and running that are well over 20 years old, my pentium II 350 was overclocked to 400MHz for its entire lifespan, was still working when I got rid of it, last year.

So chances of an undervolt affecting the usable lifespan of your pc.... As close to Nil as you can reasonably get.

Sorry a clarification, with software you mean Windows?

 

[Bob.B]

good morning I have an i5-12600k and right now I don't need all the computing power it can give me, I was asking you about the, undervolt if I can do it now and maybe it will bring me advantages in the future when between 4/5/6 I will raise l undervolt or even overclock as I do things that require more and more computing power. I don't know if I mean my reasoning is like saying: I preserve something now so that in the future it will still be beautiful "herringbone" and it will work even better. Here I ask you if this can happen with the undervolt? Or if I want to keep the PC performing over the years, you don't need the undervolt, but maybe other things

Run the cpu within it's design specs and it will last longer that you want to keep it.

 

[Viking2121]

Wouldn't be worth it, unless your running into temp issues, undervolting can help in the case and shouldn't hurt performance unless it takes it out of it turbo stuff that Intel does and then I wouldn't even do it, just find a better way to cool it.

A CPU will outlast your needs, you'd probably upgrade as the CPU would be so slow before it even dies, Im sure the motherboard would die well before the CPU.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks, yes I understand, in my case would you do it or would you leave it alone? (undervolt done right)

No. Leave it alone.

Unless you're seriously into overclocking and with poor cooling, CPUs rarely die.

Undervolting to preserve lifespan is a waste of time.
It will become obsolete and be replaced long long before it 'dies'.

In my dozens of personal systems since the 80's, and hundreds/thousands of corporate systems...I have seen exactly zero CPUs die.

 

[Karadjgne]

Thanks, yes I understand, in my case would you do it or would you leave it alone? (undervolt done right)

Overclocking is getting the best speed possible for the lowest stable voltage and lowest temps as a result. Undervolting is overclocking. Your best speed happens to be the same as stock, but for less voltage and lowered temps. So yes, undervolting is a good thing if it's done right, especially on a Ryzen which benefit from a more efficient process.

Sorry a clarification, with software you mean Windows?

No. Software in general. Today's Adobe, Photoshop, games, OS or any other daily usable software will have certain requirements for expected results. You could try and run them on an ancient cpu, but you'll find they run out of ram, take absolutely far too long, get far less fps than is playable etc if they even work, older cpus don't have certain instruction sets necessary etc. As software gets more complicated, it takes a faster, stronger cpu to deal with that, and that includes higher IPC, not just clock speeds. You could try to run Cyberpunk2077 on a Pentium II, but 1-2 fps is absolutely useless. A 4k photo that takes 2 minutes to process in Photoshop makes an all day affair just to edit.