[SOLVED] Does undervolting decrease performance?

[mike2012]

Running an i5 3570k with a stock cooler. At stock voltages too much heat will be produced and the fans get loud. However, I notice that in the BIOS I can undervolt the CPU 100mv. So far, I haven't noticed any problems. Running HWInfo and running the MSI Kombuster CPU burner test I see the processor is hitting the desired clocks.

But can undervolting decrease performance?

 

[Grobe]

No, but you may or may not experience different kind of failures. If the system goes unstable, then set the voltage back to default.

 

[mike2012]

No, but you may or may not experience different kind of failures. If the system goes unstable, then set the voltage back to default.

Hmm, I see. But say I undervolt 100mv and I still see the CPU hitting 3.4ghz at 100% during stress testing, does that mean its stable?

I also haven't noticed any issues while idle or playing games.

 

[13thmonkey]

if you don't have issues then you are lucky, anything weird happens then the first port of call is the undervolting, or course you could just get a big fat air cooler (you can reuse it on future builds) and run the fans slowly.

 

[k1114]

Even at stock vcore, many were able to oc to 4ghz and that's above turbo speed. They add a bit of extra vcore stock for a bit of extra padding. You could undervolt more and have no issues. But I've seen getting unstable at idle happens before instability with a load. The stock cooler is pretty terrible and a rather cheap $25 cooler will be more than enough even for ocing.