How To Safely Undervolt Your CPU To Reduce Temperature

When overclocking a CPU, the thought is to extend the voltage to realize a better clock pace. But that results in overheating and may have an effect on the general lifespan of the CPU.

That stated, the most secure alternative to scale back the temperature with out affecting the efficiency is undervolting the CPU. The steps are virtually just like overclocking:

• Stress check the CPU at your present OC/inventory settings.
• Enter BIOS or use some other related utility to decrease the Core Voltage Offset.
• Stress check the brand new setting and guarantee it doesn’t crash. 
• Also, examine the temperature, voltage, and general rating with the benchmark check.
• Increase the voltage in case your system crashes and repeat the steps.
• If your PC passes the stress check, keep reducing the offset voltage till you discover the candy spot.

That’s one technique. You may even tweak different voltage choices to see the way it works out for you.

Here, I’ll information you with the simplest methods to undervolt a CPU and even share my experiences on completely different methods.

From BIOS

Trust me, that is probably the most dependable choice. The solely problem is attending to BIOS every time to tweak the voltage setting. 

Also, word that the precise steps rely upon what motherboard you may have because the UEFI interface varies by producer.

Without additional ado, let’s get into the steps:

1. First, use any benchmark utility (Cinebench, UserBenchMark, FurMark, and so on.) to stress check your CPU.
2. Also, open a {hardware} monitoring utility (HWMonitor, HWiNFO64, AIDA64, and so on.). Keep your eyes on the temperature, voltage, energy, present, and clock pace. Note them for future reference.
3. Now, enter the BIOS utility:
4. Navigate to the Voltage Settings. As I acknowledged earlier, the choice goes to differ. Look and navigate to any of the next:
   • Advanced Voltage Settings > CPU Core Voltage Control (often on Gigabyte)
   • Ai Tweaker > VDDCR CPU Voltage (often on ASUS)
   • OC > Voltage Setting > CPU Core Voltage (often on MSI)
   • OC Tweaker > Voltage Configuration > CPU Core/Cache Voltage (often on ASRock)
5. The concept is to set this feature to Offset mode. This will dynamically alter the voltage relying on the CPU load.
6. Make certain the Offset Mode signal is detrimental.
7. Now, comply with any of the under approaches. Stress check and examine the values to the benchmark after each configuration:
   • Set a larger worth (-0.1 or -0.2). The technique is to attempt to set off the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR BSOD error. Then, we’ll begin growing the voltage till we discover stability.
   • Start from a decrease worth (for instance, -0.015) and keep reducing till your system crashes at a sure level.

My Test Results:

On my ASUS PRIME B450-PLUS with Ryzen 5 5600G APU, the 4200 MHz overclock overheated the processor to greater than 95 levels (max. voltage recorded = 1.44 V).

I’ve posted the highlights of my check within the desk under. I wasn’t simply capable of lower the temperature however even received a slight efficiency enchancment, because of undervolting.

That’s as a result of my Ryzen processor was thermal throttling within the earlier OC setting, and couldn’t run on the clock pace it was meant to achieve.

After the discount within the temperature, there was no thermal throttling, so it was capable of attain a barely larger pace.

After testing out a couple of video games, the candy spot for me was the -0.275 offset.

Similarly, on my MSI MAG B550M MORTAR, I undervolted the Ryzen 7 5700G APU by -0.09 V.

Here, the temperature used to hit greater than 100 levels (fairly regarding!) at 1.438 V. With my new settings, the temperature doesn’t transcend 88°C at 1.344 V.

Using CPU Utility

If your BIOS is lacking the Offset choice or is greyed out, you could go for an OS utility. Choose the suitable software relying on what processor you may have.

Both the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and AMD Ryzen Master provide enhanced person interfaces. Without attending to the UEFI/BIOS utility, you may simply overclock and undervolt your CPU or APU.

In truth, these are extraordinarily useful utilities for laptop computer customers to scale back the temperature with out making any bodily modifications. But remember that your processor needs to be unlocked.

There’s no want to fret as you’re simply going to decrease the voltage. Even in case you’ve undervolted an excessive amount of, it simply means the CPU just isn’t getting sufficient energy (which is fairly regular).

Restart your PC and the utility mechanically units the voltage to default.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU)

Team Blue customers could make use of the performance-tuning XTU software program. Before downloading, be sure you examine whether or not your CPU is listed underneath the ‘Supported products’ checklist.

Launch the instrument after efficiently putting in it. You can make the most of both the Compact or Advanced View to configure the Core Voltage Offset.

For undervolting, click on on the left arrow. It ought to lower the offset worth by 0.01. Hit the Apply button to save lots of modifications and use Revert to set the worth to default.

This utility even allows you to stress check the processor and monitor the CPU utilization, frequency, TDP, and temperature. However, I’ve all the time most well-liked Cinebench and HWMonitor. 

In truth, I’ve utilized the identical for my check on the Gigabyte X299 UD4 Pro motherboard geared up with an i9-7900X CPU. However, I used to be solely capable of cut back the temperature by round 8 levels on this construct with little or no impression on the efficiency.

AMD Ryzen Master

Unlike Intel XTU, Team Red customers must manually override the voltage setting using the Ryzen Master utility. Here are the final steps in case you’re within the Basic View:

• Under PROFILE, set Control Mode to Manual.
• Decrease the CPU Voltage (Volt) choice to do the undervolting.
• The APU GFX voltage will adapt as per the configured CPU Voltage. So, there’s no headache on that part.
• Press Apply to save lots of modifications and use your most well-liked benchmarking utility to stress check the CPU. 
• You may even use the Apply & Test choice to stress check immediately using the Ryzen Master utility.

While Ryzen Mater is a superb software program for {hardware} monitoring and fast configuration, many customers have complained that it conflicted with their BIOS settings. That’s the rationale I all the time choose doing this from UEFI.

However, my Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE BIOS doesn’t provide a lot on voltage configuration. Even on the inventory setting, I used to be getting too excessive temperature when taking part in FPS video games (greater than 85 levels).

After undervolting Ryzen 5 5600G from 1.375 V to 1.344 V, I used to be capable of cut back a minimum of 10°C. At 3900 MHz, my multi-core Cinebench rating was 8974 with the utmost temperature recorded at 74.2°C.

Through OEM & Third-Party Apps

Besides Intel XTU and AMD Ryzen Master, you may even make the most of your motherboard’s utility to undervolt your CPU.

Visit your board’s help or obtain part. Check the outline and obtain the suitable instrument for overclocking functions.

For instance, ASUS affords the AI Suite software. To undervolt, navigate to TurboV EVO and right here, you’ll want to lower the VDDCR CPU Voltage.

Similarly, ASRock customers can go for the devoted motherboard utility, which varies relying on the system mannequin. 

For my Z370 Gaming-ITX/AC, I take advantage of F-Stream. Yours may be A-Tuning. Look for CPU Core/Cache Voltage (Offset) within the OC Tweaker tab to do the needful.

The concept is identical for all motherboards and you should utilize the methods that I’ve been emphasizing all through this text. Some of those apps even include built-in stress testing and {hardware} monitoring options.

However, I’ve had unlucky experiences when using such apps myself. When making an attempt to undervolt using AI Suite 3 on my PRIME B450-PLUS, it stored crashing. And once I used F-Stream, the system froze and I needed to drive shut it off.

If you’re in the identical boat, you could go for some third-party purposes as properly. ThrottleStop is a well-liked alternative amongst most fanatics so I’ve used the identical,

• Navigate to the FiVR choice.
• Once the Turbo FiVR Control window opens up, examine the Unlock Adjustable Voltage choice. This is underneath the CPU Core part.
• Lower the Offset Voltage worth in mV (milliVolts).
• Click Apply and stress check every setting till you get a satisfying end result.

The draw back is that this instrument is solely relevant to Intel customers. AMD customers might go for one more software program referred to as Clock Tuner. But do word that it’s only supported on a few Zen 2 Ryzen processors.

A Few More Things To Consider

I’ve coated the fundamentals of how to undervolt a CPU and this could suffice for common customers. But in case you’re an fanatic who desires to go for more, I counsel tweaking some more voltage choices to realize higher stability and better FPS.

These settings differ on each motherboard. So, you’ll need to do some groundwork your self. I’ll be bringing more undervolting content material quickly (specialised for the most well-liked manufacturers – ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock).

Explore Adaptive + Offset and Advanced Offset modes. Try configuring the voltage to see in case you get even higher stability.

Also, tweak superior voltage settings, like MESH, VCCIO, VRIN, System Agent, SOC, NB, and so on. These can be found on each BIOS and software-based utilities.

Some of the voltage choices are associated to reminiscence. So, my tip is to learn the on-screen description or examine the respective person information beforehand. 

In case you’re going through instability points even when tweaking voltage in a smaller vary, there may be some points together with your system. Try updating your BIOS to repair this.

If the CPU temperature stays excessive, strive setting an aggressive fan pace curve. Upgrade your cooling, change the thermal paste, and underclock (if it’s not working).

But if nothing helps, examine our information on delidding the CPU – this has helped a variety of customers cut back temperature to some extent.

For avid avid gamers, I even advocate undervolting your GPU. This is extraordinarily useful because it helps cut back energy consumption and repair the overheating downside with the part.