Central processing unit – Henry Poon's Blog https://blog.henrypoon.com Sun, 25 Aug 2019 23:36:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 83044199 Undervolting the Processor https://blog.henrypoon.com/blog/2010/08/16/undervolting-the-processor/ https://blog.henrypoon.com/blog/2010/08/16/undervolting-the-processor/#respond Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:41:15 +0000 http://henrypoon.mooo.com/blog/undervolting-the-processor I’ve always been annoyed at my laptop idling at around 80 degrees Celcius (according to RealTemp), which is totally unhealthy for the computer. Today I decided to do something about it.  I looked at how to undervolt my processor.  The process on the laptop is an Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, which runs at 1.5 Ghz.  It supports voltages between 0.95 V and 1.25 V.  I followed a guide (link at the end) on how to undervolt the processor and in the process I learned quite a bit.

According to the writer of the guide, undervolting simply reduces the voltage applied to the processor.  Since all processors have a different voltage requirement, they all use one standardized value which is most likely higher than the amount that the processor itself requires.  By reducing this excess voltage, the power dissipated by the processor will decrease, and thus reduce heat and increase battery life.  It should also be noted that this process will not impact performance since the performance of a processor is governed by its clock speed.

By doing this, I’ve reduced the temperature of my laptop by about 12-15 degrees Celcius.  The laptop’s keyboard and touchpad are no longer warm to the touch and the side heat vent no longer feels like burning.  Definitely a major improvement!

Link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/235824-undervolting-guide.html

]]> https://blog.henrypoon.com/blog/2010/08/16/undervolting-the-processor/feed/ 0 414