Underclocking

[Nitro-Max]

Does anyone underclock??

i dont need 3.6ghz of quad power just for watching a movie or surfing the internet just a waste of power and electricity tbh

Screen shot running 1200mhz idle and 1600mhz under load

voltage 1.098v probably could go lower lol but this seems stable its a great chip i can do 3.6ghz @ 1.360v

I have 2 profiles saved in the bios this one i call energy saving mode

and gaming mode 3.6ghz raw power.

 

[dadi_oh]

Does anyone underclock??

i dont need 3.6ghz of quad power just for watching a movie or surfing the internet just a waste of power and electricity tbh

Screen shot running 1200mhz idle and 1600mhz under load

voltage 1.098v probably could go lower lol but this seems stable its a great chip i can do 3.6ghz @ 1.360v

I have 2 profiles saved in the bios this one i call energy saving mode

and gaming mode 3.6ghz raw power.

It would be interesting to measure the power savings in going from stock down to 1600MHz. That might indicate whether the savings on the power bill are worth the hassle of deciding which mode to be in (assuming a reboot is required to change modes).

The other motivation for someone to underclock is closely related and that is thermal load. If you have a small HTPC case and want to run a smaller heatsink with low fan speed (or possibly no fan?) then it may make sense to dial things back. Like you said, you don't really need 4 cores @ 3.6GHz to play a movie.

 

[jaxxxon]

when its playing a movie and only 1 core is running at about 5%, does it really use that much electricity? i thought it only uses alot of electricity when you put it under load. if you underclock it wont it just make the cpu work harder thus using the same amount of electricity. i don't know, just seems pointless to me lol.

 

[r9]

Pointless. Are you that much bored ?

 

[Deleted member 3]

My previous server ran at 800MHz instead of 1600. Simply halved the FSB with a BSEL mod. Apart from power saving it also allows mostly passive cooling.

 

[Disparia]

I saved a few watts editing the 2D/3D modes of my video card. It's just an 8600GTS, so it wasn't a huge difference (and now with GPU F@H, I'm always in 3D mode).

As for CPUs, my C2D, C2Q, and PX4's all transparently adjust voltage and speed for when it's needed and when it's not.

 

[3870x2]

most CPUs underclock automatically when not under load.
There is no performance lost from it, whenever it reaches almost full load on my 2500MHZ, it goes right on back up to 4200.
Any good mobo will save you some good $ on the energy bill.

 

[Nitro-Max]

Pointless. Are you that much bored ?

Why is it pointless?

If you have c1e dissabled /speedstep etc then you are running 3.6ghz or what ever all the time the cpu still requires the full amount of voltage to remain stable even if its only useing 5% and your temps are still going to be higher.

As said you could probably turn the fans off and use passive cooling at such a low voltage.

I belive it does save energy thats why the c1e /speedstep feature is there to do the same but by underclocking you can take it even lower and run at lower voltages for even more power saving.

Ive always loved overclocking but i think its pointless and wastefull for just general internet browsing and i have noticed a big increase on my electricity bill through running at 3.6ghz all the time especially when i have the 2nd pc running and the xbox360.

 

[3870x2]

Why is it pointless?

If you have c1e dissabled /speedstep etc then you are running 3.6ghz or what ever all the time the cpu still requires the full amount of voltage to remain stable even if its only useing 5% and your temps are still going to be higher.

As said you could probably turn the fans off and use passive cooling at such a low voltage.

I belive it does save energy thats why the c1e /speedstep feature is there to do the same but by underclocking you can take it even lower and run at lower voltages for even more power saving.

Ive always loved overclocking but i think its pointless and wastefull for just general internet browsing and i have noticed a big increase on my electricity bill through running at 3.6ghz all the time especially when i have the 2nd pc running and the xbox360.

dont forget longevity of your cpu/gpu/ram.

 

[Nitro-Max]

you can even dissable cores too you might be able to run the cpu on hardly anything lol

 

[silkstone]

Seems like a good idea, CCC also reduces 2d clock to 500mhz at idle. I might start doing this if my energy bills keep going the way they have been

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I have never intentionally underclocked. I do generally leave Cool n' Quiet or Speed Step on though.

 

[Disparia]

dont forget longevity of your cpu/gpu/ram.

Maybe.

If you're component lasts 8 years instead of 4 years, does it really matter if you've already replaced that part after 2 years of use?

 

[burebista]

Pointless. Are you that much bored ?

IMO pointless is OC-ing for nothing.

My old X2 3800+



Actual E8400



Both were perfect for browsing, office, movies, music, you know light stuff.

 

[Emanuel1788]

I also underclocked my quad, it saves up to 30w at idle.

Its very stable, I think I can go lower, but Im fine.

 

[Nitro-Max]

Thats really nice underclocking there burebista

 

[Nitro-Max]

I also underclocked my quad, it saves up to 30w at idle.

Its very stable, I think I can go lower, but Im fine.

looking at that seems i can go lower on my voltage ive only just started playing though tbh
nice underclock

 

[silkstone]

So we're talking about a saving of around 40w with underclocking, at most? That's less than a light bulb takes right?
Well every little helps i guess.

 

[Emanuel1788]

I also underclocked my power hungry 4870 for even more power savings.

 

[johnnyfiive]

lol, cool thread. Since my 9600BE doesn't OC for crap, maybe I will see how far it goes down.

 

[kwchang007]

I can't underclock, but I do undervolt my laptop. Core 2 is amazing in that regard too...at 2 ghz I only need .9875 V to be stable. Unfortunately, at the lowest multi, the lowest voltage option is .95 volts. But you defiantly notice the difference in temps. At full load with no undervolting, the fan has to run at high no matter what, more or less. With undervolting, it can run at low all the time if it's fairly cool in the room, or low and then some high and then back to low, so it defiantly benefits temperature. I imagine it would do power consumption some good, especially if it's a core 2, where 1 ghz is more or less enough for me to browse the web, listen to some music, youtube just fine.

 

[kid41212003]

The Core i7 can go down to 0.9v when Energy saving mode is enabled.

I don't like to underclock my processor, because you will have to restart to change setting when you want gaming. And beside, there will be noticeable performance lost, even if you're just surfing websites, and I don't like the time lag, or delay clicking when I'm using my computer.

I want my computer to react faster than me.

It took my computer to open Photoshop CS4 under 1 second and a half.
Half second to open MS Office 2007.

My old computer couldn't keep up with me, but now, I couldn't keep up with my computer, and I like it that way...

 

[wolf]

my Q6600 does 3040mhz @ 1.2875 (its own VID) and 2.4ghz somewhere around 1.1v

if you really going for low power/heat then under volt is the way to go, but as you can see with a Q6600 there is generally OC headroom at stock volts too.

 

[ShadowFold]

I have all my CPU's folding so I have them at the highest they can get. I can't fold with my P4 tho because it slows my system down tho.

 

[OzzmanFloyd120]

I've been doing this for about six months, only I downclock to 1ghz at 1.0v