Insufficient Power - Damage?

Chrisco90

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May 12, 2011
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I recently upgraded mobos so it's no longer an important concern, just curiousness. I have a Phenom II x4 940 @ 125W TDP. My old board was only rated at 89W TDP.
I've ran some stress tests and have come to the conclusion that the processor is fine. My question is: By putting the processor in a motherboard that could not provide adequate power, could I have damaged the processor, and how?
 

Chrisco90

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May 12, 2011
58
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18,630
That's what I figured. My friend and I are in a disagreement, and he's sure that no harm could possibly be done to the processor by under-supplying it. I can't exactly tell him it could, but not supply an example of an exact cause.
 
As many find out the hard way when they upgrade hardware. They'll buy a prebuilt computer and upgrade it with a high-end videocard but will keep the junky OEM PSU that it comes with. The PSU can't supply enough energy to power everything and eventually the PSU will take a dump on you and when that happens it ends up usually taking other hardware with it like the videocard. Underpowering hardware will usually end up causing problems including screwing up hardware like the mobo, video card or cpu.