Running GPU underclocked

[beingGamer]

Just asking out of curiosity, does running the gpu underclocked harm the hardware?

I was running csgo underclocked with -20% power, 800 core & 1000 mem clock for some time.

by the way my gpu is asus R9 280x

 

 

I would like to recommend this for 'dont try this at home' series of @Slick

cc @LinusTech

[orangecat]

No it won't harm the hardware but it could be unstable.

[Conan1600]

the only danger of under volting under clocking is instability or information loss / corruption. there is essentially no danger at all.

[beingGamer]

8 minutes ago, Kilobytez95 said:

No it won't harm the hardware but it could be unstable.

Ya. by the way i was running csgo on potato settings

[orangecat]

7 minutes ago, ideamaneric said:

The proper term would be 'undervolted' here.

He never specified that he was turning down the voltage just power limits and clock speed. It will likely downvolt on it's own.

[orangecat]

47 minutes ago, ideamaneric said:

He specifically told us he was going to go down 20% of power. That would indicate he was undervolting. Unless I'm not mistaken, power limits are limiting voltages or something. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If you drop the power limit from 100% to 80% the core voltage will stay the same unless the card has to downclock itself to stay within it's power target. When the card downclocks itself it's very likely core voltage will drop too but it's not guaranteed unless it has to to stay within it's power settings. Honestly though it really doesn't matter unless he's suing a very insufficient power supply.

[Clyne]

Well for Asus R9 280X owners, underclock the memory because it's set to high on stock. It's a reason why most Asus R9 280X were artifacting due to high mem stock clocks.

In your case, it's just that if the GPU has been running fine with no problems underclock then it's fine.