Originally Posted by Grim0x

Do you own a laptop?
I’ve been doing a bit of research since lately, on a topic I’ve recently discovered, and find quite interesting. It has been described as “a notebook Jockey’s equivalent to overclocking”, and it achieves 2 things, that most laptop owners would almost instinctively grab at;


It Achieves Increased Battery Life-Time
And
Cooler Temperatures.

What’s it called? Undervolting.

Some of might be aware of the trick, but the practice is certainly not as widespread as overclocking for example. The principle behind undervolting is simple, its supplying your Chip with less voltage than its currently receiving, while maintaining Stability.
Undervolting isn’t as Taboo as you might be inclined to consider it. ‘Because CPUs are mass-produced, the voltage is set to a stable level that will suit all samples of that particular CPU, everything from CPUs with “Friday Afternoon Syndrome” to real overclockers’
‘There are lots of CPUs on the market that can be run at a lower voltage than what they are specified to. Especially the kind of low power consuming CPUs found in laptops. You'll be surprised when you see the results of undervolting your CPU’

This little post (unfortunately) will not lead you step by step through the process of undervolting.
Suffice to say, (unfortunately) its not a guide, and really, its just a little introductory article to the topic.
In my quest to undervolt, I’ve gleamed quite a bit of information from various websites and forums, as well as different software.

Sad thing is that my old laptop’s components doesn’t support features like CPU load scaling, (like the Pentium M line of Chips for eg).
But I doubt its my CPU (PIII 1.2GHZ) that’s hindering, but rather, my mobo that doesn’t support on the fly clocking/volting.

But I really want to encourage or other members to try this neat trick out, I’d love to hear some results.

I’d like to mention that Undervolting CANNOT damage either your CPU/MOBO.
As with anything called “on-the-fly”, or any variant of “clocking”!, there exists the possibility that you may corrupt some of your Data.
But this is rare, and really, will only happen IF you don’t do things in increments, but rather in huge jumps.

Anyhow, enough Chat.
My premise, Undervolt your Chip in .5v increments, then use http://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v2414.exe or any other THOROUGH benchmarking utility to ensure that your Chip is stable.

(So far) here are the programs that will allow you to UV;

ClockGen (small, but might not READILY support your mobo)
RM clock Utility (widely hailed)
Crystal CPUID
Notebook hardware Control (love this one)

All of these Programs will allow you to adjust your voltage at least, in addition to overclocking your chip, which I really wouldn’t recommend you do with a laptop.
You’ll also notice, that because your Chip is running with less voltage, you’ll have less heat, your laptop’s fan will not be needed as much – and, you guessed it, that will also saved battery. (both by LESS needed FAn activity, and the fact that your system is using LESS battery power in layman terms). People have gained like 20% more battery time (using it under full load!)

For the sake of time I’ll just give a brief description of each program,
My favorite one is last.

ClockGen - is really small, and just a visual tool that provides a link between a user, and the VID ect of a Chip. Can’t hurt to DL, and if it doesn’t support your mobo right away, you just need to supply it with the name of a few of your onboard chips.

RMclock Utility - is loved by many, it’s a nice compact utility that will allow you to undervolt/ overclock on the fly.

Crystal CPUID – know CPUid? Here’s a nice variant. It does on the fly of course, and can tell you lots about your system’s Bios, Mobo and CPU.

NHC – now, this program was my favorite, not because if its more aesthetic GUI, but because of the fact that it has presets, that can be actualized in different conditions.
“Max performance”
“Battery Optimized”
“Max Battery”
“Dynamic (load) switching”

You can also adjust the Fan speed of your laptop , and the program monitors the Temperature of your hardisks(s).
It has a nice lil sis try icon that will tell you the speed your CPU is operating at (so you can see when it slows down ect.)
It also has HDD acoustic management, so you can quite down that HDD Wink

I’m really sorry that I’m unable to give results, and more comprehensive guide lines, but I just thought that regardless, I HAD to share this. I’m sure you owners of more modern laptops (anything that uses Pentium M’s ect) will really benefit from this if you give it a try..
The bottom line – the average PC user should be able to pull this off, The O’clock enthusiast will find all this a breeze, and Undervolting has no negative effects. In fact, supplying your Chip with less volts could very well do the opposite of what overclocking (and overvolting) is said to do, It might INCREASE your CPU’s lifetime it is said.

You’ll have a cooler lappie with a longer lasting battery – give it a shot.