underclocking for efficienty

[trog100]

just playing for the sake of playing but..

i have just down clocked my 8700K to 4 gig on all cores.. it was at 4.8.. the max temps have dropped from 85 C to 50 C and the vcore has gone down from 1.26 to 1.088 fully loaded..

i have also set the max power limit on my 2080TI to 80%.. it now boosts to 1750 and runs at 60C with 50% fan duty..

in real world usage i cant notice a performance difference.. high end hardware can be pretty efficient when slowed down a bit..

just food for thought.. he he..

trog

 

[hat]

Absolutely. Just as power requirements and heat output can increase dramatically when overclocking, they can decrease dramatically when underclocking. As you know, many miners do this to their cards for that exact reason.

It's not something I would do with my CPU though, at least, not in my main rig. Strangely, I can accept lessor GPU performance (to an extent), but my CPU can never go fast enough.

 

[cucker tarlson]

I did this with 5775c and 1080,I additonally set a fps cap in games and was able to run them fanless.nice to see what it's capable of when udervolted but good air coolers can keep high end gaming hardware quiet while squeezing almost every drop of performance.

 

[Bill_Bright]

high end hardware can be pretty efficient when slowed down a bit..

High end (well, almost all actually) hardware "these days" is pretty efficient at the default clock speeds and power settings.

I bet if you get a good UPS (or something with decent power consumption monitoring software) and measure your power use over a couple 2-week periods, one period running with the default clocks and power settings and the other period at your tree-hugging settings , you will find the difference in power consumption (and thus energy cost) between the default settings and your tree-hugging settings result in insignificant savings.

If you were "Folding" or searching for ET or doing some other task that pushed the system to near capacity 24/7, then you would likely see more significant savings (but do less work in the process). But normal computing usage (even if there is heavy gaming involved a few hours every day) typically means the processors (CPU and GPU) will only peak demands just a few seconds here and there while gaming. At nearly all other times, that is, when you are reading your email and Twitter, reading this forum post, updating Facebook, watching YouTube videos or streaming Netflix, your system is barely coasting along.

Frankly, the only time we undervolt here these days are with "passively cooled" (no fans) "silent running" HTPC (home theater PC) builds where only "0dB" fan noise (total silence!) is acceptable by the client.

Otherwise, what you have accomplished in reality is you wasting your money on more expensive, higher performing hardware you are not taking full advantage of! It would be like buying a Porsche 911 Carrera C4s and use it to only putter around town, never taking it out to the track to see what it can do. Yeah, it looks nice and it provides nice bragging-rights but you could buy a really nice Audi A7, have just as much fun and look great too while saving 10s of $1000 in the process.

Your experiment is not a total, waste, however, as two things happened. (1) You learned something new and that is always good! And (2) you have proven users don't have to break the bank to still get great "game play" (that, is, great entertainment value) out of lessor (and more affordable) hardware. And that's a good thing too!

 

[trog100]

its not just a question of stock or under clocked its more a question of max overclock or underclock..

as for that porche bill just cos one is owned dosnt mean it has to be driven balls out as a matter of course...

i admit to buying hardware i dont really need.. i run 1440 not 4k.. i know i love good benchmark scores which is probably why i buy the hardware i do.. this goes along with bragging rights.

i was a little surprised just how low that vcore went when running the 8700K chip at 4 gigs.. that is the kind of efficiency i was talking about.. as for the 2080ti at 80% power.. again its not 80% relative to the stock setting.. its 80% compared to the possible 125% which would be the max performance setting.. stock is just what the card comes set at otherwise it means f-ck all..

by the way saving trees dosnt really fit into my thinking.. nether does having a mindset stuck at stock..

plus points.. my system should run cooler and quieter and last longer.. negative points none really.. i can crank it all up for benchmarks and crank it down for normal running.. pretty much what i would do with that metaphorical porche if i did own one..

for what its worth my current "underclock" gives me a timespy score of 12000 as opposes to a max overclock score of 14000.. do i notice this in real life.. nope not in the slightest..

one day i might buy another 2080ti just to get even better benchmark scores.. but i am sure i would underclock both of them for normal running.. he he

i am daft.. probably..

trog

 

[FireFox]

my CPU can never go fast enough.

I hear you.

I have just down clocked my 8700K to 4 gig on all cores.. it was at 4.8, i have also set the max power limit on my 2080TI to 80%.. it now boosts to 1750 and runs at 60C with 50% fan duty

You're not alone there, i do that from time to time, from 5.2GHz i down clock to 4.8/4.5 and the GPU even at stock and sometimes i run my Computer that way even for months.

 

[cucker tarlson]

my pc stays on all the time so I really appreciate using xtu with various profiles. I got moderate oc and max oc profiles as well as a power saving one, in addition two default profiles - one with static voltage and one with adaptive mode enabled. it's super useful in measuring the actual performance improvement in games too. I use xtu open on my secondary monitor,game in borderless mode and change settings on the fly with real time performance monitoring.profile pairing is a nice feature as well

 

[Bill_Bright]

my pc stays on all the time

"On" all the time and being pushed to maximum utilization (and power consumption) all the time are two totally different things. Again, unless "Folding" or running SETI or something similar, the majority of the time it likely is running at or closer to idle - unless you have multiple users of that machine taking shifts to keep it fully utilized 24/7.

as for that porche bill just cos one is owned dosnt mean it has to be driven balls out as a matter of course...

No doubt - but then you are talking more about showing off and bragging rights. I am not saying those are bad things, but the practical vs emotional considerations should at least be realized and understood.

i admit to buying hardware i dont really need.

So do I. I don't "need" 16GB of RAM in this system. But I wanted it and more importantly I could afford and still meet all my other financial obligations - so I bought it. I don't need a big screen TV either, but I have one - and more importantly, enjoy it.

But that is not the same thing as spending money to buy something bigger, faster and badder then actually take intentional steps to restrict, limit or otherwise prevent it from reaching its full potentials.

 

[cucker tarlson]

"On" all the time and being pushed to maximum utilization (and power consumption) all the time are two totally different things. Again, unless "Folding" or running SETI or something similar, the majority of the time it likely is running at or closer to idle - unless you have multiple users of that machine taking shifts to keep it fully utilized 24/7.

oh really? well thanks for the update.
ekhm,where did you see me say it's running at max utilization ?

 

[Bill_Bright]

oh really? well thanks for the update.
ekhm,where did you see me say it's running at max utilization ?

I see no reason for the attitude.

I fail to see the point in reporting your computer stays on all the time. This thread is about underclocking and HW efficiency.

 

[Solaris17]

Lets take a chill pill.

I see no reason for the attitude.

I fail to see the point in reporting your computer stays on all the time. This thread is about underclocking and HW efficiency.

machines that are on all the time might just benefit from being efficient.

Stay on topic, no need to try and moderate the thread.

 

[trog100]

i recon in my case its to do with age.. many years ago when i was a sprog i owned a Riley Pathfinder.. this was the worlds first genuine 100 mph production saloon.. did i drive it flat out.. roads permitting yes i did.. he he.. mind you back then the roads were not covered in f-cking speed cameras. . you just had to keep an eye out for patrol cars..

my economy under clock maybe knocks my gaming down by 10fps.. with a 2080ti 10 fps aint noticable..

maybe i have just got bored with overclocking and (benchmarks apart) the gains i get from it are not noticeable.. maybe i am just losing the plot..

and we all know why i buy stuff i dont really need.. cos i can..

a max cpu temp of 50C and gpu temp of 60c at 50% fan duty whilst still more than satisfying my performance needs has to be worth something..

trog

 

[Bill_Bright]

machines that are on all the time might just benefit from being efficient.

Of course they do. But there is a HUGE difference between on and idle than when on and heavily tasked.

Stay on topic, no need to try and moderate the thread.

I wasn't trying to moderate the thread - just trying to understand the context of the comment and how it applied to the topic of the thread.

maybe i have just got bored with overclocking and (benchmarks apart)

I hear you there. My first ventures into overclocking involved cutting circuit board traces and soldering jumpers (clearly voiding warranties - and motherboards were REAL expensive back then). I don't see the challenge today when simply clicking options in software does it for you. Plus, as you note, today's hardware - even when under utilized, is very capable indeed.

Under clocking, on the other hand, I feel can still be a bit challenging, especially when trying to keep heat managed with passive cooling only.

and we all know why i buy stuff i dont really need.. cos i can..

And because we just want to!

 

[cucker tarlson]

I see no reason for the attitude.

I fail to see the point in reporting your computer stays on all the time. This thread is about underclocking and HW efficiency.

Can you friggin read past first six words ? my point was a response to the post above mine,I don't know why you've decided to write a rebuttal to that.I said I use oc and uv profiles alternatively with xtu,where are you exactly going with expianing to me the difference between idle and load?

 

[Shambles1980]

See to me computers are fun.
I tinker more with them than i game on them..
I like to tweak clocks and voltages to get as fast as i can 24/7 stable then a week later i think maybe i can tweak some more..

I see no reason why some one cannot enjoy doing the same thing but in reverse. Its just a numbers game in the end, My game is to get the best balance of highest possible numbers with temps and voltages in check.
Why not play the game to get lowest possible numbers and not notice any appreciable performance loss?

I may start playing that game some time.
See how low i can clock things and still achieve a constant 75fps, actually sounds like it could be a challenge worth trying.

 

[John Naylor]

plus points.. my system should run cooler and quieter and last longer.. negative points none really.. i can crank it all up for benchmarks and crank it down for normal running.. pretty much what i would do with that metaphorical porche if i did own one..

Before I get into the above .... max temps running what ? If it's 85C when running P95 and that's something you don't do on a daily basis or even weekly, then the significance is lost on me. I prefer to let Intel and MoBo manufacturer determine the best voltage ... system sits down at 800 Mhz

Well it will run cooler though I hardly see an advantage to that . Have a 2600k OC'd on my youngest son's box since they came out (2011 ?) and it's been running at 4.8 Ghz (78C max core) on air since day 1. He's a college student w/ a nerdy GF so it's pretty much gaming till 2-3 am every day.

My system is also running at max OC 5+ years (1.3875 Vcore .... will break 1.50 when AVX present every now and then for a microsecond) water cooled and it can't run any quieter because if you are sitting there with eyes closed, you can't even tell it's on. When idling, watching a movie or typing on forums, using office suite fans do not even turn on. Peak gaming the fans hit 550... peak stress test about 650 rpm. Pretty much every box we build left here at max stable OC and as of yet 1 primary (MoBo after 2 years, warranty replacement running 6 years) component failure (had a few CD / DVDs die ... no HD failures in 8 years / 3 SSDs). With today's built in protection / throttling features, as long as you stay away from running synthetic stress tests, (unless you built your box to get your name on web site OC leader boards, don't know why one would), and stay away from low budget products, it's very unusual to see component failures.

As fo the Porsche analogy, yeah it's still a blast to drive even when you don't get a chance to open it up (1978 911 w/ 930 body style is in storage). Do you use BIOS profiles ? I set up BIOS profiles such as

Max OC = 4.7 (Stock Boost)
Max OC = 4.8
Max OC = 4.9
Max OC = 5.0 Everyday boot)
Max OC = 5.1
Max OC = 5.2 (HT Disabled)

Then at boot time, i can simply choose to boot whichever i choose. The lower ones would be used to troubleshoot if there was an issue at the every day boot. The other two, I might just choose to see if any game or application showed any sign of improvement ... also should note that there is a few other profiles which adjust cache multiplier / voltage ... I rarely find that anything improved when moving it from the default, but with Graphics oriented apps I find that having it more than -3 below the CPU mutliplier does have an impact on performance. Just having a Porsche or an OC CPU does in no way mean your going all out all the time .... just that you can if you want to. Typing this message, fans are off, CPU speed is 800 Mhz, CU is 28C, VRms are 30.0, 28.1, 25.0 ... GPU is 26.0, Even when using AutoCAD it's just icks up in spurts and then chills till the next major operation is performed. I haven't played a game since last year so this is box hasn't been under any strain for quite sometime.

So having a big OC is like having a rpm limiter or governor on your car. That Porsche may do 180 mph at 6000 rm but at 60, it's under no strain in everyday driving. Of course thre are those who, fro reasons I don't quite understand, turn off the Power Saving features of today's hardware but, again, going bck to the car analogy, I can limit my speed / engine load just by not flooring the pedal .... unless i want to of course.

 

[moproblems99]

w/ a nerdy GF

Ah, if only we could all we so lucky...