underclocking?

[Lagz]

Hi,

Currently my PC kicks out looaads of heat. It heats up the entire room and its really annoying. Its got a 2.6Ghz P4, from which most of the heat seems to be coming. Would underclocking it make it run cooler? Is it in any way bad for the hardware or risky?

 

[hp7909]

Not at all! Been done for years now also.

Underclocking is the practice of modifying a microprocessor's speed settings to run at a lower clock speed than the manufacturer's specification. The purpose is generally to decrease heat dissipation and/or decrease electricity consumption. This is usually done for the purposes of increasing system stability in high-heat environments, or to allow a system to run with a lower airflow (and therefore quieter) cooling fan or without one at all. However, this invariably comes at the expense of some system performance. In essence underclocking is the opposite of overclocking.

CPU Undervolting & Underclocking: A Primer

Also should be software that allows you to dynamically control the speed from Windows instead of a permanent setting in the BIOS. On AMD K6/K7/K8 there’s CrystalCPUID. Don’t know if it can do the same for a P4

 

[marc2003]

try undervolting first. you might be able to maintain stock speeds whilst still getting lower temps. this definitely works as i've tested with my setup.