Hi, guys. I have what will probably be considered an odd question Anyone know how low you can underclock an i5/7 chip? I'm looking to upgrade off my current machine and I'm wanting to skip lga775 cpus completely and go with the latest series. But I'm also hoping to keep my power consumption as low as possible. So I have been trying to find out how low you can take an i5/7 system but not having much luck finding information on it. I'm upgrading from a dual 1.4ghz tualatin P3 machine (yes, I know.. ) so even an i5 @ 1ghz would be blazing to me. heh. Thanks!
can't you just change the FSB in the BIOS? i actually wanted to underclock my cpu in my laptop, but no options in BIOS
Hmm, after a bit of a play on my GA-EX58-UD4P, I had it booting at 1.2GHz (100x12) on stock voltage. I know I could get that a little lower using SetFSB, but I couldn't really be bothered. A little play with the voltage and I had it at 0.88v. I could probably get it lower as well, but I didn't want to spend a heap of time on it. It failed to boot at 0.72v (Yes, I was making huge jumps...) Laz
why would you want to underclock so low? it kind of beats the point of upgrading?! I would have thought you should wait for the dual core clarkdale 6xxx to come out as i think they have a lower tdp than the current lga 1366 or 1156 quads.
@ Von Lazuli Awesome, thanks Can you tell me which CPU you were using? @ DaTLiTe I probably will, but I was still curious to see how low current ones could be taken. And, as i said, I'm upgrading off a dual 1.4ghz P3 tower, so an i7 at 1.2ghz will spank my current set up with ease. My main concern is power consumption for various reasons. And heat is also an issue. I live in a hot/humid environment and I also do not have tons of room. So having a newer machine run cool is also a plus. Thanks again! btw, I'm definitely hanging around here. Quick answers and no flaming! Seems odd, I'm so used to getting flamed instantly on other forums
Why not just stick with good old Intel SpeedStep settings? If you're not familiar with the technology, if you enable SpeedStep in the mobo bios, the CPU is automatically clocked down to very low settings when it's not being challenged. Not sure what that is for the i5, but my i7 920 clocks down to (12x 133mhz) 1.6ghz Appox. The CPU will only run at full tilt if required to by an application. If you're really that concerned about power consumption, but want the latest generation hardware, you could always wait for the upcoming i3 CPUs. Has a quoted TDP of 73w, which is about 22w less than the current i5 750 so it'll consume a bit less juice.
also you should get the most effecient psu on the market http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/650W...Gold-90-Effic-4x-PCI-e-8xSata-Cables-The-Best!
I was using an i7 920, I probably should have stated that. But as others have said, you really don't need to undervolt things that much in order to save power. Intel's efficient use of C states and their Speedstep makes everything pretty efficient anyway. Mind you, they are the first thing you turn off when overclocking... I would just advise sticking to stock voltage and seeing how high you can take the processor from there. By leaving it at stock voltage, the processor can still step down when needed. If you want cool and quiet, you really can't go past water, but top of the line air is awesome as well. Laz
I'm running my i5 at stock speeds using SpeedStep. most of he time it stays @ 0.8v and ~1GHz. i've got a 'wall plug power measuring thing' and it shows my computer using about 180w, but that includes a 23" monitor which is supposed to use about 45w, but i havnt measured it (and i'm not with my comp atm - its at uni, i'm at home :/) If you want good performance but low power, go for an i5 as it has a much lower TDP (max power consumption) than i7 CPUs, and as you're apparently not that bothered about max speed, it would be a better bet. At the other end of the scale, have you looked at nettop type machines, with a dual core Atom/ION motherboard. My mum also wanted a low power machine, so i looked into them for her, and just before christmas built her a low power (and very cheap) ion based machine. (£190 not inc. case and o/s) i used a this Atom single core ION mobo, 1GB RAM and a Cheap 160Gb WD blue hard drive, paired with a OCZ SilentXstream 400w PSU (absoulte overkill, but it was the lowest power, high efficiency PSU i could find, excluding the BeQuiet 350W, but thats not standard ATX size). Anyway... installed win7 on it, and it must be said its impresive. Everythings smooth, the onboard grapics handles the aero desktop faultlessly, and i think if you paired it with an SSD it would be just as nippy for everyday stuff as my i5 rig (which has an SSD). Its also almost completely silent (damn that HDD) and should use minimal power - we haven't had a chance to test it yet. Its seriously worth a look if you want low power consumption, any i5/i7 build wont come anywhere near it.
Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely waiting on the new chips due out next month. Looking forward to the i3s and seeing how good they are. I've thought about the atom powered machines, but, honestly, the atom chips aren't much faster than my current tualatin P3s. I know about speedstepping and all that, but I want it running low at all times, not the majority of the time But this has given me much to ponder on. If it comes down to it, I could go with a 45watt TDP core 2. I'm currently sitting in the 130-170watt area with my P3s, hoping to get a little under that with a new rig, but might not be possible. Worth a shot tho.
Thats pretty much what i thought when i got this machine for my mum, but speed wise, its a huge upgrade from her 1.8GHz AMD sempron rig. I like fast computers, and have noramlly got the fastest i can afford. I got endlessly frustrated using my parents stone age computers (1.6 and 1.8 GHz athlon/sempron machines), but now I am seriously considering getting an Atom/ION based machine for general use, and cut down on the 6KWh/week that my i5 rig uses. Of course it depends on what you use it for, but judging by you're current setup, you're not into gaming or video editing, or anything particularly heavyweight. correct me if i'm wrong there. Bear in mind that the speed is not only dependant on the CPU. you're on a P3 machine, which is a bit before i got into computers, but i'd guess it uses an old IDE HDD and doesnt support DDR ram? OK, so in raw GHz the Atom isnt much of an upgrade. It does support hyperthreading though, sou you could effectivley have a quad core machine. You would also have a decent amount of DDR2 ram, and with the money saved by geting an atom setup, you could get an SSD which from my experience is the biggest speed upgrade a computer can get at the moment. its also slightly lower power, and completely silent. Back to the speed, i dont know how the atom architecture really compares to the i5/i7 architectures appart from its slower, but if you underclock an i5 to 1GHz, and compare it to a dual core ATOM at 1.6 GHz, i'd imagine the i5 wouldnt have much over the atom, and the atom would still use one hell of a lot less power. seeing what the i3 brings will be interesting, but i'd wager the ion will still give better performance per watt. ps. i'm not being paid to promote ion although i admit thats the impression i got from reading my posts. I was just very impressed by it
