The topic of undervolting has been very hot among Intel users, for understandable reasons.
I've also been somewhat active in the discussion, if you are new to this or just want to perhaps get a better understanding, feel free to check my topic.
Anyway, I just updated my MSI Z790 Gaming Plus WiFi board to the freshly released stable BIOS version with 0x12B microcode, and did a short R23 run with 100% stock settings as I wanted to compare how my 13700K does at the motherboard default settings vs my optimized ones I've been using for a while (and are fully stable).
100% default settings with the Intel Default preset – AC=DC=110 (Lite Load Mode 16 = Intel Default); LLC=Auto, no offset, auto CPU core ratios, auto PLs – PL1=PL2=253W
https://imgur.com/yfJODqR
Optimized settings – AC=DC=50; LLC Mode 5; -0.125V offset; Per P-Core Ratio Limit = 54 and Per E-Core Ratio Limit = 44; PL1=125 PL2=200W:
https://imgur.com/gDuQo9S
It is crazy how massive the improvement is:
- The max power draw decreased by 53W due to PL2=200W instead of 253W. If I don't set PL2 to 200W, it maxes out at around 235W in R23.
- The max temp decreased by 15C, due to the lower power draw.
- The score improved by 600 pts, while drawing 53W less power and being 15C cooler. If I don't limit PL2, the score is around 31600 pts at 235W, with max temp at around 93C.
- The max current (A) draw decreased by 24A.
- The Vcore during the R23 run decreased by 0.120V – not seen in the screenshot, but the Vcore under load was 1.33V with the default settings vs 1.21V with the optimized ones.
- The max Vcore spike during R23 decreased by 0.060V. This is just for the 35-40 seconds window I've captured in the screenshots. With the default settings, the Vcore reaches 1.45V after boot, while with my optimized settings it reaches 1.27V, so a 0.180V decrease.
I also did a quick test in AC Odyssey – with the default settings the Vcore was around 1.35V, while with my optimized ones it's around 1.24V, so a 0.110V decrease.
The results are clear and my conclusion is that if you haven't tried undervolting yet, you are misssing out. Even putting aside the degradation issue (which hopefully is fixed for good with 0x12B even at default settings), the improvement you can achieve with a nice undervolt is 100% worth it.