Undervolting

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Undervolting is the practice of reducing the supply voltage of a computer's CPU. There are many reasons to perform this sort of modification, but one of the most common is to reduce power consumption and thus heat generation in laptop computers.

Undervolting may be accomplished in a number of ways. Some motherboards contain a user-configurable BIOS in which it is possible to adjust the VCore of the CPU. A number of different third-party programs capable of adjusting the VCore from within an operating system may also be used.

Reducing the voltage supplied to the CPU below the manufacturer's recommended minimum setting can result in system instability. Accordingly, it is advisable to reduce the voltage in small steps, following each reduction with a thorough stress test of the system.