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The original was posted on /r/intel by /u/diegopau on 2023-08-07 14:40:35+00:00.

Hi everyone,

Here is a quiet specific undervolting question, in case someone faced something similar or has some ideas I can try.

CPU: i7-13700KF

Motherboard: MSI Z690 PRO-A with the latest bios version

Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S, with an extra fan.

When I got the i7-13700KF I knew it would be barely possible to keep it from throttling with air cooling so no complaints there. Later on I got to know about the famous bending issue but for now I decided not to install a contact frame, since everything was already installed.

Initially when using Intel Extreme Utility (before the required undervolting protection enabled) I was able to get incredible results with undervolting, completely removing my temperature issues. All I had to do is to put an offset of -0.200 V and the max temp while running Cinebench was 88 C. It was stable in the 10 min test of Cinebench.

Then Intel Extreme Utility was updated and doesn’t allow anymore to do undervolting. It complaints about not having undervolting protection enabled (if I enable it I guess it will work for overclocking but not for undervolting).

So now I have to try to get similar results in the BIOS, but it simply seems impossible. Doesn’t matter if I play with the CPU Lite Load modes or the Offset or the adaptative offset. All of them seem to reach the same outcome which is that undervolt the CPU under load. Currently I have an offset of -0.14V and it is stable. -0.15V is not stable, Cinebench crashes. I had zero difference trying with adaptative + offset, I get the same exact result. I leave CPU Lite Load fixed in Mode 9 just so that doesn’t become a factor. But I tried to remove the voltage offset and instead go down the CPU Lite Load modes and at the end I reached to similar temps, and similar crashes with Cinebench, so I prefer the offset for more precission. I also tried combining both.

What I cannot understand is why I was able to reach -0.2V without issues in Intel Extreme Utility? could there be more parameters that Intel Extreme Utility is able to dynamically change that I can’t control in the Bios? going from -0.14 to -0.2 seemed to made quite a difference in temperatures, now I am again in around 97-98 C for the hottest core (its summer which always adds a bit), so no throttling but almost.

Thoughts?