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by zozbot234 1347 days ago
You don't even really need to rein it back, modern processors will throttle back automatically depending on how effective the cooling is. Anyway, the issue with manual undervolting is that it may adversely impact reliability if you ended up with a slightly substandard chip, that will still work fine at stock settings. That's why it can't just be a default.
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>You don't even really need to rein it back, modern processors will throttle back automatically depending on how effective the cooling is

This isn't about thermals. This is about power consumption.

I'm not suggesting reigning in a CPU's power limits because it's "too hot".

I'm suggesting getting 95% of the performance for 59% of the power consumption. Because it's not worth spending 72% more on electricity for 5% increased performance. Again, even the manufacturers themselves know this and are admitting it. Look at this slide from Intel: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/13th-... Purported identical performance of previous gen at 25% of the power consumption. They KNOW the default configuration setting (which you can change in a few keystrokes) is total garbage in terms of power efficiency.

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I guarantee you server CPUs aren't going to be configured to be this idiotic out of the box. Because in the datacenter, perf/W matters and drives purchasing decisions.