Lower CPU's voltage on stock CPU...

[miha2]

2 questions in this regard:

Based on this: www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/2


Is it possible to lower the voltage of the CPU with the stock fan and stock speeds without damaging it?

Is it "recommended"? - won't it hurt in any way, like, the cooler won't be able to handle that high temps, or somehow damage the CPU, or some other way? Or will it work "better" - temps would go down, the fan will work more slowly, thus making it more reliable, and stuff like that? Just out of interest...

 

[Rogue Leader]

2 questions in this regard:

Based on this: www.anandtech.com/show/8227/devils-canyon-review-intel-core-i7-4790k-and-i5-4690k/2


Is it possible to lower the voltage of the CPU with the stock fan and stock speeds without damaging it?

Is it "recommended"? - won't it hurt in any way, like, the cooler won't be able to handle that high temps, or somehow damage the CPU, or some other way? Or will it work "better" - temps would go down, the fan will work more slowly, thus making it more reliable, and stuff like that? Just out of interest...

The voltage it runs at stock is what Intel has determined it needs to make it stable. If you lowered the voltage you would want to lower the clock speed as well to compensate or you may lose system stability.

I don't see any point to doing this, unless you overclock the hell out of your CPU it will last forever, they very rarely fail, its more likely to be obsolete before it could ever "go bad".

 

[miha2]

The voltage it runs at stock is what Intel has determined it needs to make it stable. If you lowered the voltage you would want to lower the clock speed as well to compensate or you may lose system stability.

I don't see any point to doing this, unless you overclock the hell out of your CPU it will last forever, they very rarely fail, its more likely to be obsolete before it could ever "go bad".

What I mean, is that on the web site provided, it says that the stock voltage is 1.121V (i5 4690K). I chose this web page because this setup includes my CPU and my fan. So, what I mean, is that at 4 GHz, the voltage is 1.050V, which is smaller than stock. That's why I'm asking.

Or is the stock fan so bad it needs a lot of CPU voltage to run? (I know it doesn't make sense, but I can't find a better explanation to why Intel raised the stock voltage so much...)

 

[Rogue Leader]

The voltage can fluctuate throughout the overclocking process as the processor only draws what it needs (up to the maximum settings you give it). The power going to the fan has nothing at all to do with the voltage going to the CPU.

 

[scuzzycard]

Every individual CPU has it's own VID (Voltage Identification). Your 6600K might not run at exactly the same stock voltage as your neighbor's. Undervolting is probably more trouble than it's worth because you would have to lower the voltage under load without lowering the idle voltage so much that it causes the system to freeze when it clocks down. That would take a lot of trial and error. You would have to do a lot of stress testing to ensure stability, which is probably going to degrade it more than just letting it be. Furthermore, every time your systems BSOD's, you would have to wonder if it's a software problem, hardware failure, or just instability caused by the undervolt.

This can be worthwhile for laptops because lower voltage means longer battery life, but in a desktop, it's of dubious value.

 

[miha2]

Every individual CPU has it's own VID (Voltage Identification). Your 6600K might not run at exactly the same stock voltage as your neighbor's. Undervolting is probably more trouble than it's worth because you would have to lower the voltage under load without lowering the idle voltage so much that it causes the system to freeze when it clocks down. That would take a lot of trial and error. You would have to do a lot of stress testing to ensure stability, which is probably going to degrade it more than just letting it be. Furthermore, every time your systems BSOD's, you would have to wonder if it's a software problem, hardware failure, or just instability caused by the undervolt.

This can be worthwhile for laptops because lower voltage means longer battery life, but in a desktop, it's of dubious value.

That's what I'm talking about! Yet, assuming you have had the computer for, let's say, 2 years, and you know everything works just fine (never experienced BSODs caused by software/drivers/hardware/else) you "could" undervolt it through trial and error (not, like, going from 1.210 right to 1.050, but 1.200 (or even 1.205) and lower, and lower, until you hit the lowest voltage that your CPU can run smoothly, thus emitting less heat, and so serving longer. Am I thinking right?

After all, how did the guys on the web site learn about the "proper" voltage? Didn't they go exactly the same ways I listed here?

 

[scuzzycard]

When Intel selects a stock voltage, they choose it based on a range of operating parameters. The CPU has to run without failure on a stock cooler, that stock cooler has to be allowed to get a little dusty. The CPU has to function even if the computer case has suboptimal ventilation. They have to account for the possibility that your system might have to function during a heat wave in a room with no air conditioning. They also account for the fact that your power supply and motherboard need only meet certain very specific but relatively mediocre standards for the CPU to function. I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot of things. Once you undervolt, you throw all that engineering out the window. It has almost all the downsides of reasonable overclocking, but without the payoff. If you like to tweak things, then you might enjoy every step of undervolting, but don't do it just because you think the CPU will last longer. Intel (and AMD) CPUs last way beyond their useful life when left stock, or even moderately overclocked.

 

[miha2]

I'm not, don't worry. This is just out of interest. I have overclocked mine to 4 GHz, 1.050V, and it works smoothly, no problems. I did have some BSODs from time to time, but they were related to the memory, not CPU. However, once I did leave it somewhere like 1.040V, and there I did have a lot of BSODs... So I had to raise it. I had it for a couple of days, so I don't think it's damaged to the grade it will break today or tomorrow.

 

[scuzzycard]

No worries, undervolting doesn't cause damage