Undervolting - cause of freezes?

[caracal85]

Hey everyone,

I recently undervolted my 3570k to 0.995v to try keep it cooler, as I was worried about temps. It boots fine, and I can play games - and stress-test with prime95 and IBT - for hours without problem. However, when browsing the web or simply talking to friends I find my PC can freeze, emitting a looping buzzing noise. Could my undervolt be the cause, despite the fact its stable when under stress?

Thanks for any help.

 

[pjmelect]

Yes under volting could be the problem, before you try to over or under clock a processor it is always a good idea to make sure that it is stable at stock settings before making any changes. If at stock settings you still have freezing issues then the memory is the most likely cause..

 

[caracal85]

Well - upon further research - I've found that the problem lies in a fairly common issue with Nvidia drivers causing freezes. There doesn't appear to be a fix; I have to use the power-switch to manually reboot the PC when it locks up. I'm willing to tolerate the issue - it only occurs around once a day - but does manually cutting power to a windows installation, on a regular basis, damage any of my hardware? (I'm aware it may cause OS corruption).

Aware this is now probably in the wrong area but didn't want to make a new thread. Thanks for any help.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Isn't it just unstable if it is freezing? I would increase the voltage.

 

[caracal85]

Thanks for the reply. The problem is unrelated to the CPU voltage as far as I'm aware - BSODs are reporting nvlddmkm.sys (the nvidia driver) as the culprit.