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[GUIDE] How
to undervolt
laptop
(Intel/Nvidia)

September 09, 2019

N
SHARE
ote: Will

include Intel

10th gen
undervolting guide

soon
This is my own guide

on how to undervolt
Intel CPU / Nvidia

GPU in your laptops.

Hope you found it

useful!

A few notes before

proceeding:

This is my own

method on how

to do it. There

are a lot of ways

to undervolt

CPU+GPU, but
this is how I

usually

undervolt with

all the laptops I'd

reviewed and

with my own

laptop – no

issues so far
I will not be
responsible if

something

catastrophic

happens (see

above - no issues

so far)

I will try my best

to make the

explanation clear

- will be using
the undervolt

pro les in my

laptop as

examples

As mentioned in

the title, this

guide is for

those with Intel

CPU (4th gen or

later) or Nvidia

GPU (10 series or

later) or both

only. I might do

an undervolting
 g
guide on AMD

CPU+GPU when

I gured out

how to do it

Yeah I know this

guide isn't

perfect...but I'll

try to make it
better

CPU undervolting:

I prefer using

Throttlestop instead

of Intel XTU since I

had bad experiences

with XTU and TS

provides more

options on CPU
tuning. First,

download TS from

here:

https://www.techpo

werup.com/downloa
d/techpowerup-

throttlestop/

Extract the folder,

then launch

Throttlestop

Application. If you

see an error,

download this:

https://www.micros

oft.com/en-

us/download/details

.aspx?id=40784 (click

download, tick x64

and x86, click next

and install both of

them after nishing

downloading)

Initializing

Throttlestop:

After opening

Throttlestop, click

turn on
Go to options, tick

'start minimized' and

'minimize on close'. If

you want, you can

also tick 'Nvidia GPU'

and 'battery

monitoring'

Remember to click
save every time you

made a change

Now the main part -

Undervolting:

Go to FIVR, click on
'CPU cache', tick

'unlock adjustable
voltage'

d d
Under adaptive

(default setting) -
offset voltage, slide

left to -50mv

(-49.8mv). This is the

undervolt we would
start from, though

you can start from

-100mv if you're

con dent that it will

not crash.

IMPORTANT: Click

on 'OK - do not save

voltages', then click

apply and OK

f l
Don't forget to apply
the same undervolt

for CPU core by

repeating the steps

above for CPU cache.

Usually CPU core can

be undervolted
slightly more but you

can leave it as the

same with CPU

cache if you don't

want to do extra

testing since there

isn't much difference

in the end anyway.

Now the tricky part:

Testing stability:

There isn't a good

way to test it. Usually
I would suggesting

running Cinebench
multi core rendering

for the rst test. If it

doesn't crash during
 g

and after the

rendering, increase

the undervolt value

by -5mv/-10mv
increment (eg from
-50mv to

-55mv/-60mv) and
repeat the rendering

test. If it crashes,
usually what would I

do is to reduce the
undervolt by

15mv/20mv (eg
-150mv to

-135mv/-130mv).
After that, use it for a

few days - browsing

web, watching YT

videos etc. Playing

games is also a good

way to test stability.

If it doesn't
crash/freeze for a
 /
few days, go back to

FIVR and click 'OK-

save voltages

immediately', click

apply and OK.

To auto run
Throttlestop after

startup, follow these

steps:
First, search task

scheduler and run it.

Under task scheduler

library, click 'create

basic task'

Type a name, click

next
Select 'when I log on',

click next

Select 'start a
program', click next

Browse and select

where
Throttlestop.exe is
located, click next

Tick the following,

click nish

Under general tab,

tick the following

Go to 'conditions'
tab, untick all

including the greyed

ones

Under 'settings' tab,

untick all except
'allow task to be run
allow task to be run

on demand'. Click

OK. Done!

Additional CPU
tuning:
1. Untick BD

PROCHOT – from
what I know,
sometimes when
CPU or GPU is

thermal throttling,
the other (GPU or
CPU) will auto
downclock to

provide more
thermal headroom
2. Unlock power
limits (will work in
most cases) –
sometimes
increasing power

limits/duration via
Throttlestop/XTU
won’t work due to
BIOS/ rmware

limitation. Use this to

overwrite the default
power limits (note
that some models

will not allow power

limits to be
overwritten even
with this step). (will

expand this section

soon with more
explanation)
 p )

3. Speedshift – set to

a smaller value if you

encounter clock
speed drops in
games not due to
power/thermal

throttling and
wanted max clock
speed. Works like
high performance
mode in Windows.

Note that sometimes

clock speed will not
be at max in some
games since it

doesn’t need the

extra performance
(to save power),
therefore increase in

clock speed will not

have higher FPS. Set
to a bigger value if
you don't want the
y

clock speed to boost

too much

You can also do a

custom pro le, let's
say you want a low
power pro le for
light loads/battery

or slightly lower all

core clock speed for
games. There are 4
pro les that can be

saved. To rename the

pro le name just go
pro le name just go
to options and

rename here:

GPU undervolting (10

series/Pascal):
I prefer using MSI
Afterburner to
undervolt GPU, you

can download it
here:
https://www.msi.co
m/page/afterburner

. Also download
Ungine Heaven -
Ungine Heaven
needed for testing:
https://benchmark.u

nigine.com/heaven

In this case, I will be

using my laptop as
an example which
has a 1050TI GPU.

First thing you need

to do is to run
Heaven (no need

benchmark) with
suitable settings
(highest settings
aren't necessary) and

fullscreen disabled.
In this case I use this:

Run it for several

minutes and record
the stable/average
clock speed via

Afterburner
monitoring. Make
sure it's running with
dGPU not iGPU. In

this case I got

[email protected]
(note: Afterburner
can't monitor GPU

voltage, you need

HWinfo64 for that)

Close Unigine, open

Afterburner. First
thing to do is to
enable auto startup
(for pro le) by

clicking the Windows

icon (red means on).
Then, open voltage
frequency curve in

Afterburner. Put
Afterburner and
voltage frequency
curve side by side.

Open the curve here:

I prefer starting from

-125mV; however, if

you got a bad silicon,

your GPU might not
be able to do such
undervolt.

Click the point for

0.962V (since it's the
closest after -125mV)

and pull the point up

until it reaches the
recorded clock speed
just now (1759MHz).
Record the increase

in clock speed (+how

much) - in this case I

got +126.

Close the curve and

click reset (the
return icon between
settings and tick).

Under core clock,

slide right to
increase clock speed
to the clock speed

increase recorded
just now (+126).
Usually I will
increase 1 more clock

speed (+127) to
prevent any change
in the curve (more
on that later). Open

the curve and click

apply (the tick icon).
Check again whether
the point at 0.962V is

adjacent to 1759MHz.

The most annoying

part of GPU
undervolting: A shift

in the curve.
Sometimes the graph

will change/shift

slightly after clicking

apply, therefore you

have to click reset

and do it again. If

you're unlucky, you

might get a messed

up graph (I

encountered it

before) and need to

do it again also.

Now for the patience

 p

testing part: For all

points after the set

max voltage (0.962V),

make them to be the

same clock speed

(1759MHz) by pulling

down the points –

atten the graph.

Click apply. The

graph might change

slightly after clicking

apply (again) -

usually some higher

voltages will have

slightly higher clock

speed after clicking

apply, all you need to

do is just atten
them again.

If the graph is OK,

save it to a pro le:

Click the save icon:
Choose any from 1-5
- in this case I

choose 1

Click apply:

To con rm the graph

is good to go, click

the pro le and apply

again to see if there

are any changes in

graph shape. If there

is a slight difference,
you can ignore it or

make slight

adjustments and save

again – the end

result will usually be

the same. If the

graph is messed up
noticeably,

unfortunately you

have to do it all over

again.

Now the tricky part

again: Testing

stability. For the rst

test, run Heaven.

If there is any
deviation in the set

voltage/clock speed
during the test (eg

0.962V increase to

0.975V or 1759MHz
drop to 1747MHz),

there are 2 solutions:

1. Check the next

clock speed

increase - in this
case, the next

higher clock

speed after
1759MHz is

1771MHz. Then,
use the above

method to set

1771MHz at
0.962V. Either it

will not be stable

and crash, not

stable but drop

clock speed
automatically or

stable.

2. Set 1759MHz at
the next higher

voltage (0.975V)
 g ( )
since the voltage

used might not

be stable for the

given clock
speed

If the GPU is stable

after 1 run, use

games to test

stability instead. This

might take several

days. If it's not

stable, try using

lower clock speed or

higher voltage.

If the GPU is stable,

you can try to

undervolt more by
either:

1. Increasing the

clock speed to
the next higher

voltage
 g

(1759MHz to
1771MHz at

0.962V), or

2. Decreasing the
voltage (0.962V

to 0.95V at

1759MHz)

Don't forget to
repeat the same

stability testing!

GPU undervolting

(16/20 series /
Turing):

Same as above,
download MSI

Afterburner and

Unigine Heaven here:

https://www.msi.co

m/page/afterburner

https://benchmark.u
nigine.com/heaven

Also download
hwinfo64  https://w

ww.fosshub.com/H

WiNFO.html

For this case I'm

using a 1660Ti
laptop. Before we

proceed, we need to
setup hwinfo64 for

monitoring

purposes.

Open hwinfo64, tick

'sensors only' and

click run.

Go to settings.
Under 'general' tab:

Change polling

period - global to
500ms, disk SMART

to 120 cycles. Then

click set.
Go to Layout tab,

click on the title for

each subsection and

untick monitoring,

except Nvidia GPU

section.

All the values under

the title will be

unticked monitoring

as well. Click OK.

It should look similar

to this in the end
(scroll down):

After that, open

Unigine Heaven. Set

extreme preset
(untick fullscreen)

and click Run.

When the scene has

started, go to
started, go to

hwinfo64 and click

on the clock button

immediately.

Let it run for a cycle

(until it repeats) and

record the average

clock speed and

average voltage

taken from hwinfo64.

Make sure it's

running with dGPU

not iGPU. In this case

I got around

1730MHz and around

0.882V for 1660Ti.

Close Unigine
Heaven, open MSI

Afterburner. First
thing to do is to

enable auto startup

(for pro le) by

clicking the Windows

icon (red means on).

Then, open voltage

frequency curve in
Afterburner. Put
Afterburner and

voltage frequency

curve left/right or
top/bottom.

Slide core clock bar

to right to +120

(+120MHz). I prefer
starting with this

value.
Find the voltage

available that is
closest to 0.882V

(preferably lower) by
clicking those dots in

the curve. In this

case I found a dot at

0.881V, which

corresponds to

1890MHz. After
selecting the dot,

press CTRL+L. Click

the tick button to

apply.

Save it to a pro le:

Click the diskette

button and click on

any number (in this

case I choose 1)

Run Unigine Heaven

again (same settings)

to test it out. If the

voltage uctuates a

lot due to power

throttling, choose a
lower voltage

(around 250mV).
(around 250mV).
Remember to click

apply and save the

pro le.

Of course, you can

try higher overclock

values like +150 (in

+15 intervals).

Remember to test

the GPU stability

with games.

When GPU is under

When GPU is under

load, you might

notice the GPU core

clock will drop. For

example if you set to

1890MHz, it might

stabilize at 1860MHz.
This is completely

normal.

IMPORTANT!

Remember to click
reset if you're not

doing any GPU

related task. Locking

GPU clock speed at

maximum will drain

battery life. Only

apply the pro le

when you need to do

GPU related task like

gaming. Also, MSI

Afterburner will
drain battery life,

close it when on
battery.

ALTERNATIVE: Use

average clock speed

obtained from

Heaven run to
choose the dot from

GPU curve. This

method will ensure

that you'll not lose

any noticeable

performance and will

help in lowering GPU

temp.

For 2060 laptops:

Repeat the steps

above until nishing

Unigine Heaven run

and recording

average core

clock+voltage. In this
case I got around

1432MHz and 0.747V.

Continue with these

steps: Close Unigine

Heaven, open MSI

Afterburner. First

thing to do is to

enable auto startup

(for pro le) by

clicking the Windows

icon (red means on).

Then, open voltage

frequency curve in
Af b P
Afterburner. Put

Afterburner and
voltage frequency

curve left/right or

top/bottom. Slide
core clock bar to

right to +120

(+120MHz)

Find the voltage

available that is

closest to 0.747V
(preferably lower) by

clicking those dots in

the curve. In this

case I found a dot at

0.743V, which
corresponds to

1560MHz. After
selecting the dot,
press CTRL+L. Click

the tick button to

apply.

Run Unigine Heaven

again (same settings)

to test it out. If the

voltage uctuates a

lot due to power

throttling, choose a

lower voltage

(around 250mV).
Remember to click

apply and save the

pro le.
Of course, you can

try higher overclock

values like +150 (in

+15 intervals).

Remember to test
the GPU stability
with games.

When GPU is under

W e G U s u de

load, you might

notice the GPU core
clock will drop. For

example if you set to

1560MHz, it might

stabilize at 1515MHz.
This is completely
normal.

IMPORTANT! Remem

ber to click reset if

you're not doing any
GPU related task.

Locking GPU clock

speed at maximum
will drain battery life.
Only apply the

pro le when you

need to do GPU
related task like

gaming. Also, MSI

Afterburner will

drain battery life,

close it when on
battery.

ALTERNATIVE: Use
average clock speed
obtained from

Heaven run to
choose the dot from
GPU curve. This

method will ensure

that you'll not lose
any noticeable

performance and will

help in lowering GPU
temp.

GPU undervolting
pro les (+150)
1660Ti:
[email protected]
2060
[email protected]

If you still have

doubts, feel free to
comment below.

Happy undervolting!

SHARE

Comments

ratziboi
· November 18,
2019 at 11:39 AM

Hello! I'm
currently
following your
guide to undervolt
my GPU and i'm at
the last step
where you
mentioned the
solution if my
clock speed went
down (in my case,
it went down from
1695MHZ to
1683MHZ after
undervolt) that i
should use next
higher speed after
1695, but i dont
understand what
understand what
you mean by that.
Please help me!

genexis_x
·
November
18, 2019
at 5:10 PM
PM via
LTT forum

REPLY

FReya
· January 23, 2020
at 8:29 PM

Hello I found your

guide to be helpful
and I think there
is easier way to
atten the curve.
You could multi
select the nodes
using SHIFT +
LMB to cover the
nodes you want to
atten and SHIFT
+ ENTER to input
the exact value
you wish for all
the nodes you
selected. I just
want to share this
because I found it
extremely helpful
since it could
prevent me from
wasting time on
moving those little
nodes on pin point
accuracy. LOL

genexis_x
· January
24, 2020
at 6:42 AM

Thanks for
the tip!
Will
update
this guide.

REPLY

MichelleCute
· March 9, 2020 at
3:14 AM

Hey mine was

stable at 0.962v
and 89 C.C and
1683mhz. Can you
explain it to me
clearly how can I
undervolt it more?
Thanks

genexis_x
· March 9,
2020 at
7:35 AM

89C? Your
laptop
cooling
system is
having
issues

Decrease
voltage
with the
same
clock
speed or,
i
increase
clock
speed at
the same
voltage.
Which
GPU
you're
using?

MichelleCut
e
· March
11, 2020
at 9:58 PM

I mean 89
core clock
speed
before i
Undervolt
ed it it
was
incredibly
hot on
90+
celcius
but now
its only
80+
celcius.
My gpu is
gtx 1050
btw

genexis_x
· March
12, 2020
at 10:05
PM

80+C is
still very
hot,
moreover
it's only a
1050.
What
laptop

you're
using?

MichelleCut
e
· March
13, 2020
at 11:02
PM

My laptop
is asus
x570zd
and
unfortuna
tely, It has
only 1 fan
but I do
have fan
cooler on
it

genexis_x
· March
14, 2020
at 4:11 AM

Consider
replacing
thermal
paste with
high
quality
thermal
paste

You might
want to
undervolt
+cap
power
limit+und

erclock
for CPU

MichelleCut
e
· March
14, 2020
at 10:36
PM

Sadly,
ryzen
master
doesn't
support
my
processor,
for
thermal
paste my
unit is like
only 3
months
old and I
dont really
use it that
much,
should I
replace
the
thermal
paste
already?

MichelleCut
e
 · March
14, 2020
at 11:19
PM

I tried to
make my
own
undervolt
and i've
been
using it
for a week
https://im
gur.com/
b9EJCpD

Here's the
performan
ce base on
my
undervolt
https://im
gur.com/
X8C84E4
(Assassin's
Creed
Syndicate
1920x1080
resolution
with
medium
settings)

So far no
crashes or
problems
except it
had BSOD
one time
but I tried
to
benchmar
k again for
an hour
and it
 a d t
didn't
happen
anymore

genexis_x
· March
16, 2020
at 6:20 AM

GPU
undervolti
ng doesn't
seem
right,
refer to
the guide
for
correct
steps

Thermal
paste used
in most
laptops is
mostly
bad

REPLY

Jussi Mikkonen
· March 16, 2020 at
12:28 PM

Nice guide.
I have a asus
zephyrus s gx701
with i7-9750H and
rtx 2070. Asus has
its own boost
mode which
increases gpu core
and memory and
max fan speed.
Can you use
afterburner to
increase fan
speed? How would
you start to make
the tune in this

situation? Would
it be bene cial?

genexis_x
· March
17, 2020
at 12:09
AM

If I'm not
mistaken,
you can
enable
max fan
and
customize
fan speed
under
balanced
mode also
via Asus
Armory
Crate
software
(correct
me if I'm
wrong).
Turbo
mode will
auto OC
GPU, but
this can
be done
using MSI
Afterburn
er also.
Personally
I will
suggest
i
 using
balanced
mode,
however
since I
don't have
much
experienc
e using
Asus
gaming
laptops, I
might be
wrong

REPLY

Unknown
· April 13, 2020 at
3:22 PM

The author of the

article has a
question for you.
What temperature
do you think is
optimal for a
laptop video card
(in my case it was
warming up to 93)
after undervolting
became 80 does it
make sense to go
lower (to lower
frequencies to a
certain
temperature?)
A laptop: Asus
X570ZD
Graphics card: Gtx
1050 4gb.

And one more

small question,
you do not know
y
how to make an
undervolt on
mobile processors
Ryzen. In my case,
with the index "U".

genexis_x
· April 13,
2020 at
9:53 PM

Depends
on the
GPU. For
1050 GPU,
I would
say <69C
is good,
>75C is
considere
d hot.
Every
Pascal
GPU will
throttle at
87C

Asus X570
have bad
cooling,
can't do
much
about the
temps.
Would
advise
doing
repaste
and lift
the laptop
for more
air ow
(don't
block
intake
 vents)

Ryzen
mobile
CPUs
don't

support
undervolti
ng yet. I've
mentione
d this in
the notes.

Unknown
· April 14,
2020 at
9:57 AM

Thanks for
the
answer!

REPLY

Unknown
· April 14, 2020 at
8:07 AM

Hello sir !
this is my laptop
specs:

Acer Aspire A715-

72G
Intel i7-8750h
Gtx 1050

I have temp issues,

even tough I run
my games
perfectly without
lag or crash my
temp is always at
80C- 96C I only
80C- 96C I only
have my laptop for
5months and I can
not even play my
fav game.

even when I am
not playing a game
it is near 60C. I
requiere your help
to see what is the
real problem with
my laptop. I have
no thermal paste.

genexis_x
· April 14,
2020 at
10:39 PM

PM via
LTT forum
since this
is off topic

REPLY

Unknown
· April 17, 2020 at
4:40 AM

Hi guys. Can
somebody explain
about IccMax In
FIVR control. In
what range it
should be for CPU
core and CPU
Cache? Thanks

genexis_x
· April 17,
2020 at
7:51 AM

No need
to mess
with that
 with that

REPLY

Unknown
· April 17, 2020 at
12:50 PM

Hello, I would like

to ask you do not
mind if I share a
link to this article
on YouTube?

genexis_x
· April 20,
2020 at
6:27 PM

you mean
post this
link in a
Youtube
video?

Unknown
· May 5,
2020 at
9:27 AM

Under the
video (in
descriptio
n) 😅
genexis_x
· May 5,
2020 at
7:55 PM

as long as
this article
is credited
I'
 I'm ne
with it

REPLY

Weed
· May 1, 2020 at
8:42 PM

ThrottleStop (i7-
9750h): My
undervolt is 142.6,
core and cache. is
that okay?
My Turbo Ratio
limits is 30, is that
okay?
In TPL, my short is
45 while my long
50

MSI AfterBurner
(Nvidia 1660 Ti):
My undervolt is
1800 Mhz and
0.856V (is that
good? or should I
lower something?)

genexis_x
· May 1,
2020 at
9:09 PM

-make
sure to
check on
stability.
-I don't
recomme
nd
lowering
turbo
ratio
limits as
 that will
hurt
performan
ce, as long
as PL1 is
set to 45W

you're
good (you
can set
lower too,
say 40w,
35w)
-GPU
undervolt
sounds
good, may
I know
which
laptop
you're
using?

REPLY

Mael
· May 3, 2020 at
8:10 PM

So...what does
CTRL-L does?

genexis_x
· May 4,
2020 at
12:22 AM

lock at
certain
voltage

REPLY

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Illegea
r Onyx
Pro (i7-
9750H,
RTX
2070)
January 17, 2020

A gaming
laptop under
1.7kg? With a

2070MP …

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 [REVIE
W]

Illegea
r
Laguna
SE (i7-
9750H,
RTX
2070)
October 05, 2019

Max-Q not

needed.

In this review…

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9 COMMENTS
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