The "Undervolting" Guide

You were right, I had missed the step to select the profile on startup.
On next boot I let the system idle for 30 mins to check the temps, min 54 C max 64 C, average sitting at 60 C.

I originally found this thread when I was looking at the thread on notebook coolers, so hopefully that will further help my temp problems considering this is winter

Thanks again.

 

No problem

You might wanna consider cleaning your fans, sounds like its just clogged with dust.

See NBR Cooling Central

 

Ok I closed RMClock, but then there is no RMClock profile under Vista's power options.

 

Montevina shots, don't think it's fully supported though

 

For my AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56, what does Alternate VID mean?

And when I startup RM clock, the profile is not set into Peformance on Demand automatically...

 

That's because you have No Management selected for the Startup row right below. Set both of those to Performance on Demand.

 

Looks like you can specify the voltages that are used in the sleep states. Give it a try, I'd like to see what happens. Worst case is probably a too low power crash, just like normal undervolting, this should happen at idle though since sleep states only are activated when the CPU is idle.

 

Ahh, I see... I fixed it now, thanks!

Alright, I'm going to mess around with it, and once I'm done... I'll tell you what happened.

 

sgogeta4: I meant when switching between Vista profiles, turn RMclock off or it might not save as the default profile when you next startup.

-

Wufei: Thanks for that. It looks like 2nd gen Penryns on the montevinas are undervoltable!

It just cant recognise the revision. If it wasnt supported the voltages and multipliers wouldnt have showed.

Have you tried undervolting it?

-

SliTCX: Be careful when touching those settings.

 

Had one doubt regarding the frequency of changes in clock speed and things
Please have a look at screen shot for T7500 with settings mentioned next to it
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/1830/66739008na5.jpg
Is it normal or should be more linear, had wmp 11, utorrent, pidgin, kaspersky and superantisypware as main apps running in background + other services, its running quiet cool, but still want to confirm.
Also if we can have a graph for multiplier vs voltage for various processors then will help set the intermediate frequencies more easily
thanks

 

Yes thats normal, the 2 most used multipliers are idle and full throttle. This way work gets done quicker at full speed and returns back to the idle state for less power consumption. The intermediate multipliers are used for certain cpu load like prolonged scanning.

Your intermediate voltages are fine. A voltage graph will vary too much cpu to cpu. I suggest using "Auto-adjust Intermediate", this will be more accurate than using someone elses intermediate voltages.

 

Not a problem flipfire! It's shown undervolted. The available voltage range is 0.925V to 1.1375V. I said it's not fully supported because even at the max multiplier of 8x, RMClock only shows 94% CPU usage.

 

Yes i figured that much thats because FSB266 x 8 = 2128mhz

Its supposed to have a 8.5x multiplier FSB266 x 8.5 = 2261mhz

RMclock cannot detect half-multipliers.

Non the less, 2.1ghz is still alot of power

 

Are these temperatures and voltages good on a AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56?

 

allrighty, having alot of success today.

14x multiplier @2.8 I am down to 1.1375. Cant seem to get anywhere close to that with the 15x multiplier at 3.0. Lowest I can get with that it 1.2. I am content finally

 

If i get an error in Orthos after running for 33min does that mean I have undervolted too much? The computer does not freeze or crash, orthos just stops and says that there was an error.

 

Yes it probably means that. But Orthos can be buggy at times and you can get false errors. Try OCCT and/or Prime95 mulitcore. You could also try memtest for windows. All or any of these can be meaningful.

Also try doing things you normally do. If it does not crash then who cares. I've had it pass all the stressing programs and crash on the first game. So you never know. Or just tweak the VID's up a notch and try again

 

so im slightly confused, because i have the T9300, so should i turn on IDA? if so, do i start undervolting at that point instead of 12x?

and what about SuperLFM? does that need to be turned on?

sorry i'm new to this, and i think its a great guide, but i just need to know what to do with IDA and SuperLFM....thanks!

 

It seems like RMClock development has died out.. Any idea if we're gonna get any update for Montevina, or if there's any similar program out there that will be able to do the job?

Would be pretty cool undervolting the P8400 on the Lenovo X200 and see how far it could go..

 

You want SuperLFM turned on when you're done, as it'll result in increased power savings at idle.

You also want IDA turned off in the "Advanced CPU Settings>Processor" page, but on your power management profiles pages you need to select the IDA multiplier.

This is because the T9300 actually wants to run at 12.5x, but RMClock does not natively support .5x multipliers. If you select and undervolt the 13x multiplier, this controls the 12.5x.

If you fail to check the boxes for the IDA 13x multiplier, your processor will cap out at the highest FID you checked - 12x, thus losing you approximately 5% clock speed at peak.


The reason you want to have IDA disabled on the CPU settings page is that you may well be stable at 12.5x at the voltage you've selected for the 13x multiplier, but you've no way to test if you're still stable in 13x IDA mode (note that 13x ida mode is only using ONE core, not both, so it's not a performance enhancement over 12.5x normal). It's kinda buggy (IDA, that is) and is rarely if ever used... but just in case, you're better safe than having wierd, intermittent crashes or instability as a result of your processor occasionally kicking into IDA and potentially not supplying sufficient voltage.

In short:

Advanced Settings>Processor>Uncheck "Engage Intel Dynamic Acceleration"

Profiles>Perfomance on Demand>Use P-State Transitions checkboxes, check each Index, including 13x for both AC Power and Battery(don't forget to scroll down to find them all!)

Profiles>CPU Performance States Editor>check all indices, including IDA. Undervolt the 13x as well.

 

After reading some more on some topics, I believe I can make the voltage on the multipliers a little downer...

Why does my Orthos get errors sometimes, like when I put the voltage for 9x at around 0.75...

 

Because it's too low.


Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

 

How about these temps?

I've already tested in Orthos overnight, but didn't take a screenshot last time so I just started up Orthos to get CPU temps up to max:

 

Those are some good temps for being under stress.

 

Hi

My friend has an Acer TM 290 with a Celeron M 340. The fan use to kick in every 5-10 mins. The chipset in his laptop is an intel i855
I replaced his CPU with an Intel Pentium M740. As the max FSB of the intel i855 is 100Mhz the new CPU is running at 1.3ghz instead of 1.74ghz.
I installed RMClock and my vcore are:
Multi. Vcore
6x ----- 0.700v
8x ----- 0.700v
9x ----- 0.700v
10x ---- 0.700v
11x ---- 0.716v
12x ---- 0.748v
13x ---- 0.780v

With these setting the fan doesn't kick in at all even when I stress the CPU with orthos. I can't check the temperature as the motherboard doesn't have a sensor.

Is it safe to leave the settings knowing the laptop is stable and the fan not spinning?

 

priceless....

 

I'm sorry but I will have to use this somewhere. I'm giving you credit in advance.
***CREDIT***

 

Who knew one smart@ss comment and a FP could do so much!

 

I tried undervolting (still testing) my new hpdv5t with P8400 C2D on Vista Home Premium today.
My multiplier options were 6x, 7x, and 8x, so only testing at 2.1GHz. Voltages offered are 0.9250V to 1.2000V

I pretty much completed the 8x now. some observations:

• 
  In Rightmark, the VID went down to 0.9625V. 0.9500V gave errors very quickly on Orthos. 0.9625V hasn't given an error in over 90min though.

• Rightmark and HWMonitor temps differ by about 5degC

• CPU-Z voltages are 0.1125V higher than Rightmark voltages at every VID, which is significant (when total is around 1V). 1.175V vs 1.0625V, currently 1.075V vs 0.9625V. Not quite sure what this means

So far it seems as though CPU temps have dropped about 11degC, guessing in the drop in ambient temps

 

CPU-Z voltages are wrong. Been tested by myself and others using a number of other apps.

 

Download HMmonitor and use the TZ (thermal zone) temps. Pentium M's never came with On-Die sensors.

Yes it is safe, i have a Pentium M 725, and the temps are so low that it doesnt use the fans anymore. My voltages are .700v to .988v

The fans are usually set to engage at 60-65c for Pentium M's but after its been undervolted it will barely pass 55c at full load.

This is because the CPU Tjunction is 100c but its incorrectly detected at 105c giving the offset of 5c. You can change the offset through the registry. They havent updated support for the newer CPU's.

Any version of CPU-z after v1.41 will detect notebook cpu voltages incorrectly. It will show desktop equivalents instead of mobile cpu's. This only happens to Merom/Penryns, i guess they stopped support for newer mobile cpu's after v1.41

 

I see, so things are working just as they should.

Oh duh... down in section 6: results on the first post

I read through selected posts and they mention how to deal with the half multiplier (8.5x) through IDA... Well the IDA option is grayed out in the Advanced CPU Settings page... not a big deal since I would probably just drop the 133MHz anyway to keep it stable.

So the final results on my P8400, barring late crashes:
8x at 0.9625V
7x and lower at 0.9250V

Thank you for the guide

 

No problem,

How much temps did you loose by undervolting anyway? I assume the montevina penryns should be cool to begin with anyway.

At least now i have confirmation that it works. Thanks

Too bad the T8400 has a 8.5x multiplier and we cant simply use IDA to unlock it. 5% performance loss isnt much anyway since its a high powered CPU.

The T8600 owners are luckier or the other hand as it should have a 9x multiplier

 

flipfire thanks for the info.

If only I can get my T2500 (Gateway MX3101b after upgrade) to run as cool as this M740. In this summer my laptop's fan doesn't stop spinning. The fan kick in at 40c an sometime even lower (temp. measured with RMclock).

what does the throtling do exactly in RMClock and what's the best way to set it?

 

Hi, love the guide! but i have a few problems, after running orthos for 10 mins it only ran 2 tests? i noticed in your screenshots that there should be already 5.

im wondering because my laptop (XPS m1710 which i just cleaned and applied ocz freeze on) did not seem to respond to orthos?
it didnt seem to be stressing my CPU, i could open new browsers with no lag. temps were around 60c?

and HWmon isnt showing my GPU temps.. any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

is this done on the software level or the hardware level? Since im a linux user when on battery life i wouldnt mind being able to squeeze a few extra minutes out of my laptop (but still use linux)

 

Theres no need to touch the throttling settings. These wont control your fans if thats what your trying to do...

What CPU?

Try a different stress program like Intel TAT or wPrime95 . You just need a program that will simulate full cpu load.

Its done on a software level, so nothing is permanent.

This guide wont work for linux, you will need to use linux-phc. It can be quite complicated and confusing to explain so I suggest you google a linux undervolting guide. But yes its possible.

What distro do you use?

 

Comparing 1.1375V and 0.9625V at 8x (so not full speed, all temps in degC):
Daytime (20min test):
1.1375V - 65 and 67, 0.9625V - 58 and 59
Nighttime (8min test):
1.1375V - 62 and 62, 0.9625V - 55 and 54

So looks to be about 7 or 8 degC difference.

 

Thank you for this thread. I had attempted and managed to lower my load temperature by 6-7'C. Attached are my before and after undervolting, and settings screenshots.


However, my notebook idle temperature does not improve. I am more bothered by the idle temperature as I am a light user. Below is my temperature screenshot.


I have read a few posts behind where T5450 notebooks have improved their idle temperature and are now sitting at 26-35'C. Any ideas where I had gone wrong with my attemp?

Note. Processor: T5450.
Thank you.

 

Does anyone know of an undervolting program besides RMClock that will work with the AMD Puma platform?

 

From your screenshots, your undervolted temp at stress is lower than your undervolt at idle?????? In any case, 26-35 is really low even for newer gen penryns and are either due to really cold rooms or inaccurate temp monitors. I get about 37-38 on idel with t8300.

 

It was. I did not realise this until you mentioned it. Idle temperature range between 55-62'C. I will experience the higher range when the fan do not set in.

Is this development normal after undervolting? I however, do not know if this issue persist even before I attempted undervolting.

 

On my T8400 Montevina I'm idling at 33-35C @ 0.925V

Maxes out at 54C both cores @ 1.0125V undervolted

 

I looked at your screenshots and your CPU is idling at 1ghz, somethings not right. Your idle should be at 1.2ghz

Are you sure your CPU was detected correctly?

How is it on the battery life?

 

I suppose so. Bus speed is 166MHz.

 

Oh i see, my mistake then. I thought it was 200mhz FSB for the T5450

Undervolting wont really affect your idle temps since you cant lower the idle voltage. Its most beneficial when running full speed.

You might wanna try clean your fans or use thermal paste if your idle temps are high

No sorry, theres no support for the Puma CPU's so far. The only montevina chips can still be undervolted is because it still uses a Penryn chip.

The RMclock development team has died so your gonna have to cross your fingers for a new CPU utility.

 

Thank you for the advice. Wrt fan and thermal paste, notebook is new and is under 3yrs warranty, therefore I will have to pass. I guess I will have to learn to live with the heat.

 

i'm getting different temperatures from HWMonitor than i am from RMClock....can anyone tell me if HWMonitor has issues ? or if it's the other way around ?

 

Battery life while surfing the internet/youtube used up 20% in 32 min, so about 2 hr 40 min.

 

The program does not recognize my p7350, what should i do now ?