Yes, undervolting the CPU without overclocking is feasible and often used to improve power efficiency and stability.
Yes, undervolting the CPU without overclocking is feasible and often used to improve power efficiency and stability.
Sure, I can help with that. Reducing the voltage on your AMD Ryzen 5 3600X can lower its idle and workload temps without needing an overclock. Since you're using a Gigabyte B450 Aorus Elite motherboard with the latest BIOS, adjusting the power settings should work well. Just change the voltage to a lower value as recommended in your BIOS or by your system's guidelines.
Many individuals lower their CPU voltages in laptops just to enhance cooling, without adjusting the overclocking options. I rely on ThrottleStop for this purpose, though various other programs can also achieve it.
I prefer not to rely on external tools. I aim to adjust BIOS settings only. The issue involves clock stretching on Ryzen processors. Usually, a brief voltage drop causes the CPU to temporarily slow its clock. But if you lower the voltage too much so the CPU doesn't get enough power consistently, its clock speeds will swing wildly because of its short polling interval. Since monitoring software can't capture such rapid changes, it becomes hard to spot performance drops. You end up lowering voltage further until the system starts acting unstable.