Reduce clock speed by 30% for better efficiency.
Reduce clock speed by 30% for better efficiency.
Hello everyone! Summer is here again, and the heat is rising. I’d rather skip using a space heater than deal with high temps from my PC. I’m trying to lower the heat by undervolting my CPU and GPU. Any advice would be appreciated. I’m using an AMD Ryzen 3700X, a 2070 Super board with the ROG Crosshair VIII X570 chipset, running Manjaro Linux. I’m comfortable with tools in Manjaro or the UEFI setup. Thanks!
Before Zen3, the main ways to undervolt were by manually setting lower voltages in BIOS or using negative voltage offset if your board supported it. I mainly stuck to static all-core frequency and static voltage settings on Zen2 CPUs since PBO didn’t perform well with those.
The optimal way to adjust CPU voltage and frequency depends on your specific needs. Consider using manufacturer-recommended settings for stability, or experiment with fine-tuning in a controlled environment. Always prioritize testing and monitoring performance to avoid instability.
I typically configured Zen2 to a voltage of 1.2V and began testing at 4GHz. It booted well under these conditions, so I moved on to assess stability and temperatures. Once I identified either a stability boundary or a temperature threshold, I would usually halt further testing. If your temperatures remain manageable, increase the voltage until you reach a point where cooling becomes impossible. Aim to keep temperatures below 90°C and verify performance across both high-load scenarios (like AVX) and lighter tasks such as browsing the web.
pbo performed exceptionally well for my 3600 pbo > advanced > negative voltage offset 200 > frequency offset either -200 / 0 / +200 didn't significantly impact results. Adding +200 increased power consumption and generated more heat.