# Question about down-clocking



## BarbaricSoul (Jan 8, 2022)

Ok, so for the past week or so, I've been working on down-clocking and reducing voltage for running WCG, because let's face it, it's not good to run a CPU at 85-90'c 24/7 when it's your main/only computer. I got my CPU down to 4.5 GHz @ 1.200 volts and temps are down to 65-70'c, a lot more to my liking. And I have yet to get a crash from crunching with these settings. But every time I try to boot a game, instant crash. And with games ranging from Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries (a +20 year old game) to Cyberpunk 2077. My question is why would the CPU be fine crunching at 4.5GHz/1.2v, but instantly crash with any game, regardless of hardware requirements (my computer could probably play MW4 with no power cord lol).


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## r9 (Jan 8, 2022)

My guess is that it's using more of the instructions utilizing more transistors and more of the sylicone when gamign so it needs more juice to stay stable. 
Not all 100% CPU utilizations are the same.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 8, 2022)

even with MW4 being single threaded? MW4 hardware specs-

*System requirements:*


OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
RAM (memory): 128MB
CPU: Pentium 700Mhz
HDD: 1 GB free space
Videocard: 16MB memory


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## phill (Jan 8, 2022)

I take it @BarbaricSoul so that the game runs fine before the down clocking?   Did you run the game and WCG together at the same time?  Does it crash randomly or at a set point in the game/s you've tried?

Had it before many years ago, Orthous (kinda like Prime95) or something like that managed 15 hours straight on my E6600 (as I said many years ago) but less than 30 seconds in to WCG, crashed work units.  I'd try putting it back to what you had before, then lowering the vcore for the game and just see where it starts to crash.

I really don't understand as to why lowering the vcore and the clock speed would crash a game and even more so if its basically a single thread game as well, I mean those requirements are a few years ago so  I'd struggle to think that the lower volts the CPU couldn't handle it but never say never I guess....


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## R-T-B (Jan 8, 2022)

Maybe the pcie bus is struggling somehow at that lower voltage?  One uses the video card, the other does not, right?


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 10, 2022)

phill said:


> I take it @BarbaricSoul so that the game runs fine before the down clocking?   Did you run the game and WCG together at the same time?  Does it crash randomly or at a set point in the game/s you've tried?
> 
> Had it before many years ago, Orthous (kinda like Prime95) or something like that managed 15 hours straight on my E6600 (as I said many years ago) but less than 30 seconds in to WCG, crashed work units.  I'd try putting it back to what you had before, then lowering the vcore for the game and just see where it starts to crash.
> 
> I really don't understand as to why lowering the vcore and the clock speed would crash a game and even more so if its basically a single thread game as well, I mean those requirements are a few years ago so  I'd struggle to think that the lower volts the CPU couldn't handle it but never say never I guess....



Games runs fine at my regular 4.8 all core 1.275v clock speeds
Games crash immediately when booting game, won't even see the title screen for the game.
Some games run fine with WCG running, though I normally shut down WCG while gaming.
Mechwarrior 4 will crash my computer if I don't shut down WCG before booting Mechwarrior, regardless of clock speed settings..
Except for when Mechwarrior 4 is booted while WCG is running, I get no crashes at my regular clock settings.
I don't understand either. I mean, my computer should be able to run MW4 at max settings while on idle.


R-T-B said:


> Maybe the pcie bus is struggling somehow at that lower voltage?  One uses the video card, the other does not, right?



That is possible. I didn't think of something besides the CPU settings causing the crash.


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 10, 2022)

R-T-B said:


> Maybe the pcie bus is struggling somehow at that lower voltage?  One uses the video card, the other does not, right?


Yup too low a voltage even while underclocked would be exactly like not enough voltage while overclocked, the only difference is temperatures



BarbaricSoul said:


> Games runs fine at my regular 4.8 all core 1.275v clock speeds
> Games crash immediately when booting game, won't even see the title screen for the game.
> Some games run fine with WCG running, though I normally shut down WCG while gaming.
> Mechwarrior 4 will crash my computer if I don't shut down WCG before booting Mechwarrior, regardless of clock speed settings..
> ...



So if you underclock you set it then lower the voltage until it is unstable then bump it back up till stable and repeat that process until it won't go further or the performance is so degraded you need to up the speeds.

Stock guarantees stable controlled operation.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 10, 2022)

eidairaman1 said:


> Stock guarantees stable controlled operation.



Stock settings? You're really suggesting I run stock settings? I'll be throttling in 10 minutes while hitting 100'c. Hell, 4.8 at 1.275 has my CPU hitting around 90'c


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## elghinnarisa (Jan 10, 2022)

BarbaricSoul said:


> Stock settings? You're really suggesting I run stock settings? I'll be throttling in 10 minutes while hitting 100'c. Hell, 4.8 at 1.275 has my CPU hitting around 90'c


Are you sure those are actually intel stock and not whatever your motherboard does? 
With my 8700k if I left it up to asus and all their "enhancment" settings they have on per default (which is 'stock' for this motherboard), they would be throwing almost 1.45v at my 8700k and it would get hotter than the sun itself.
Not sure if MSI has something equal in that.

Either way, if your games crash when you undervolt then you obviously went a bit too far. Different loads produce different results, just like when you overclock. Which is why you can be stable for days in one suit and crash instantly when you look at another. It's generally recommended to run a few different ones, or at least I do. I generally run prime95, realbench and then throw in a game with a looping benchmark for half a day each or there around. Seems to work quite well for me over the years.


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## phill (Jan 11, 2022)

BarbaricSoul said:


> Stock settings? You're really suggesting I run stock settings? I'll be throttling in 10 minutes while hitting 100'c. Hell, 4.8 at 1.275 has my CPU hitting around 90'c


Do the 10th Gen CPUs still have a VID reference for the CPU?   I remember back for the 5960X I had, that had a VID of 0.920vcore, and it would run rock solid at 1.0vcore all day long.  Is that something you could set it too?  Obviously the clock speeds might be lower as you'd expect, but it might prove if there's any instability issues?


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 19, 2022)

Well, I bumped the voltage back up to 1.220 and clock speeds to 4.6GHz. CPU is running fine, no crashes when I start a game, and temps are staying just below 80'c. I'll probably keep it at these setting for 24/7 use


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## phill (Jan 26, 2022)

BarbaricSoul said:


> Well, I bumped the voltage back up to 1.220 and clock speeds to 4.6GHz. CPU is running fine, no crashes when I start a game, and temps are staying just below 80'c. I'll probably keep it at these setting for 24/7 use


What's the power draw like in comparison to a 'Auto' clocked CPU @BarbaricSoul  ??


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## joemama (Jan 26, 2022)

Maybe starting the game puts an instant high load on the CPU that caused a bigger voltage drop, leading to the crash


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## eidairaman1 (Jan 26, 2022)

BarbaricSoul said:


> Stock settings? You're really suggesting I run stock settings? I'll be throttling in 10 minutes while hitting 100'c. Hell, 4.8 at 1.275 has my CPU hitting around 90'c



What i meant to say was from manufacturer, stock clocks and volts. Now with underclocking you still need a certain level of Vcore, vdimm, nb/sb volts for it.


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## BarbaricSoul (Jan 26, 2022)

phill said:


> What's the power draw like in comparison to a 'Auto' clocked CPU @BarbaricSoul  ??


No idea, how would I check that?



joemama said:


> Maybe starting the game puts an instant high load on the CPU that caused a bigger voltage drop, leading to the crash


Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries? It's a DX7 20 year old game that my computer can max out while on idle, CPU and GPU. Recommended specs for MW4-



> *System requirements:*
> 
> 
> OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
> ...


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## phill (Jan 26, 2022)

BarbaricSoul said:


> No idea, how would I check that?
> 
> 
> Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries? It's a DX7 20 year old game that my computer can max out while on idle, CPU and GPU. Recommended specs for MW4-


I the only way I'd check is with a watt meter on the PC PSU to see what the system draws...  I suppose using CoreTemp would give you an idea on the CPU wattage??


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