Undervolting: Dangerous or not?

[Deleted member 94250]

Hi guys.
So now that my laptop is RMA'd I can't game, and i'm getting really bored. I've still got my daily driver, a thin-n-light, so at least i can watch some movies.
Reading up on how to care for a laptop is keeping me busy, and I see a lot of people recommending undervolting as it improves thermals and therefore the lifetime of the laptop, but i've also read it can cause crashes. So, my question is, is doing it safe?

Do laptops survive undervolting without any damage to their internals?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi guys.
So now that my laptop is RMA'd I can't game, and i'm getting really bored. I've still got my daily driver, a thin-n-light, so at least i can watch some movies.
Reading up on how to care for a laptop is keeping me busy, and I see a lot of people recommending undervolting as it improves thermals and therefore the lifetime of the laptop, but i've also read it can cause crashes. So, my question is, is doing it safe?

Do laptops survive undervolting without any damage to their internals?

Undervolting is simply reducing the amount of voltage to the processor, thereby reducing the amount of watts it produces and watts = heat. Overvolting which is used in overclocking, is the opposite increasing voltage to achieve higher clocks. Overvolting can damage a processor.

You can't damage a PC by undervolting, the worst that will happen is you'll undervolt by too much and it won't power on, in which case you just reset the CMOS (most laptops now have a keyboard shortcut that's applied on boot to reset the CMOS) and that will reset the undervolt of the chip to defaults.

BUT undervolting, the same as overclocking needs to be applied in small increments from a baseline. Every bit of silicon is different and will have different thermal and electrical properties. So just because you see one person has applied a -100mv underclock doesn't mean that's going to be stable on your chip, never assume this. It's called the silicon lottery. So the idea is you start from a baseline of say -50mv and then gradually apply -10mv increments until you hit instability, once you do, then reset and back it up by 10mv and that's where you settle.

If you undervolt a little too far but not to the point where it won't power on, you'll see normal operation until the CPU is stressed and then it will just shut down for no reason.

Undervolting won't really increase the life of a processor, it's not the case that applying an undervolt on healthy temperatures will further increase the life span. These days chips have so many safeguards in them that the older lifespan rules don't really apply anymore. Undervolting is only required when you've got a chip that's hitting thermal limits and cooling has been addressed as much as possible, then you'd apply an undervolt to get it to operate within normal temperatures.

 

[Deleted member 94250]

If you undervolt a little too far but not to the point where it won't power on, you'll see normal operation until the CPU is stressed and then it will just shut down for no reason.

sounds quite like the situation with FAH and my laptop, if you remember my other post. I got why you would guess that, but I've never undervolted. and it doesn't happen with any other 100% stresses.

Undervolting is simply reducing the amount of voltage to the processor, thereby reducing the amount of watts it produces and watts = heat. Overvolting which is used in overclocking, is the opposite increasing voltage to achieve higher clocks. Overvolting can damage a processor.

You can't damage a PC by undervolting, the worst that will happen is you'll undervolt by too much and it won't power on, in which case you just reset the CMOS (most laptops now have a keyboard shortcut that's applied on boot to reset the CMOS) and that will reset the undervolt of the chip to defaults.

BUT undervolting, the same as overclocking needs to be applied in small increments from a baseline. Every bit of silicon is different and will have different thermal and electrical properties. So just because you see one person has applied a -100mv underclock doesn't mean that's going to be stable on your chip, never assume this. It's called the silicon lottery. So the idea is you start from a baseline of say -50mv and then gradually apply -10mv increments until you hit instability, once you do, then reset and back it up by 10mv and that's where you settle.

Undervolting won't really increase the life of a processor, it's not the case that applying an undervolt on healthy temperatures will further increase the life span. These days chips have so many safeguards in them that the older lifespan rules don't really apply anymore. Undervolting is only required when you've got a chip that's hitting thermal limits and cooling has been addressed as much as possible, then you'd apply an undervolt to get it to operate within normal temperatures.

gotcha.

I'll keep that in mind.

This is the idea of "silicon lottery" I presume?

I see. thanks for clearing that up!

 

[SpyderTracks]

sounds quite like the situation with FAH and my laptop, if you remember my other post. I got why you would guess that, but I've never undervolted. and it doesn't happen with any other 100% stresses.



gotcha.

I'll keep that in mind.

This is the idea of "silicon lottery" I presume?

I see. thanks for clearing that up!

Exactly! The silicon lottery is what governs us all! I tend to shutdown for no reason when I’m over stressed also, have often wondered if I am just a robot when it comes down to it

 

[Deleted member 94250]

Exactly! The silicon lottery is what governs us all! I tend to shutdown for no reason when I’m over stressed also, have often wondered if I am just a robot when it comes down to it

good un.
I suppose we are all robots, a mech made of bone and coated in/filled with flesh and muscles and given hardware good enough to run an expansive AI, whereas other robots are given a dedicated OS or an AI with limited learning capacity due to less powerful hardware.