Overclocking is a great way to squeeze extra performance out of your hardware. With proper cooling and enough time for stress testing, results can be very positive without risking your components. But there's an alternative—going in the other direction. By combining undervolting and underclocking, your hardware will run at lower temperatures, produce less noise, and potentially last a much longer time.
The latest Intel Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake K-series processors have shown truly impressive overclocking capabilities, but there's a catch: the Santa Clara giant didn't do its homework when it comes to cooling. The two top models, Core i7-7700K and Core i7-8700K, run at very aggressive temperatures, resulting from a poor thermal solution under the heat spreader (the metal plate glued to the processor). In many cases, any overclocking attempt leads to the so-called 'thermal throttling', and instead of gaining performance, you lose it. Not a few users decided to go all-in and fix this issue themselves. The technique is called 'delidding', which involves removing the heat spreader with a special tool (or very steady hands and steel-clad nether regions), cleaning off the factory thermal paste, applying a more advanced interface (liquid metal is very popular), and reinstalling the heat spreader. YouTube has dozens of guides on this, and it's one of the fastest ways to void your processor's warranty—but it works.
Yes, it's a very risky way to lower a processor's temperature during overclocking sessions, and from a practical standpoint it only applies to Intel K-series chips. However, it gives you an idea of the extremes some users go to keep Mr. Celsius in check. Intel's reaction to complaints has always been the same: "If you have temperature problems, don't overclock; Turbo mode takes care of that," which automatically makes anyone who paid $400 for a processor feel violent. But what if overclocking isn't in your plans? What can you do to lower temperatures and reduce fan noise without spending more money?
What Are Undervolting and Underclocking?
The answer lies in undervolting and underclocking, that is, reducing the voltage used by the CPU and lowering its frequency. One might think it's a waste to buy components and not use them at full power, but if hardware were that simple and linear, this article wouldn't be necessary. There are too many details to consider, from thermal paste to ambient temperature, and a simple voltage/frequency adjustment could be the difference between a relatively silent computer running at full load and one screaming like a banshee. Besides reducing heat and noise, this combo also offers greater stability and extended battery life. Undervolting and underclocking are highly recommended for laptops. So the question is: *Don't Intel SpeedStep and AMD Cool'n'Quiet or PowerNow! already do both at once?* Yes, but they generally activate when the computer is idle. We want similar benefits at all times. So where do we start?
Getting Started: BIOS and Underclocking
**Through the BIOS, naturally.** A large number of motherboards offer options to control things like the CPU multiplier, its voltage, and the RAM voltage. Some prebuilt computers (HP, Dell, etc.) come with a locked BIOS and no advanced parameters, but if you ever decide to change hardware, this guide will help. Underclocking is very simple: **Enter the BIOS and lower the multiplier.** If your processor uses a fixed multiplier, you can try **reducing its base clock**. A chip running at 100 MHz × 35 produces 3.5 GHz, but if it becomes 92 MHz × 35, it'll sit just above 3.2 GHz. In theory, underclocking doesn't require any stress testing, because you're only lowering the CPU speed. Still, it doesn't hurt to open a game or run a Prime95 session to make sure everything is fine.
The Tricky World of Undervolting
Undervolting, on the other hand, complicates things a bit. Some motherboards enable two methods of voltage manipulation: you can set a direct value, or play with the so-called offset. Depending on the manufacturer's decisions, there are positive and negative offsets, or only positive ones. A positive offset is the case with my motherboard, and the only way to reduce CPU voltage is through AMD OverDrive, which is already a couple of years old. How low can it go? **The key is trial and error.** Maybe the silicon lottery will let you reach voltages far below factory settings without compromising stability, but the classic process is "lower until it crashes." If you only undervolt, you'll get one result. If you undervolt while underclocking, you'll reach even lower voltages. It'll take time to find the exact voltage. Personally, I thought I'd found the ideal number on my processor, only to enter the new Doom and experience a crash after two hours of gameplay. **It's a work in progress.**
Undervolting and Underclocking GPUs
What about graphics cards? The truth is they're also compatible with underclocking and undervolting. In fact, cryptocurrency miners have explored both territories to get the most efficiency from their hardware, but we need different tools, since we can't enter the BIOS like with a motherboard. The solution comes through external tools like MSI Afterburner, which helps us edit the voltage curve. The video from the channel Bob of All Trades (below) explains it wonderfully, but basically what we want is to set a fixed frequency with the lowest possible voltage, then turn the curve into a straight line. Lots of experimentation is needed here. If the voltage is too low, Windows and games will let you know.
Well, I think that's more than enough to get started. **The benefits in temperature, noise, and stability are there**—you just need to look for them with patience and determination. As hard as it is to believe, there are cases where undervolting can actually increase performance, because the component runs cooler and doesn't hit thermal throttling as often. Don't stop exploring. **Good luck!**
