> Many GPUs (and CPUs) have their stock voltage quite high because it improves yield for the manufacturer. The higher voltages don't improve yields since manuf

> Many GPUs (and CPUs) have their stock voltage quite high because it improves yield for the manufacturer. The higher voltages don't improve yields since manufacturers usually bin parts by testing them at higher voltages, decreasing them until the part passes the whole test suite for a grade. The primary pressure on stock voltage is headline numbers like core count and clock speed that consumers have been trained to compare by decades of marketing. This is especially obvious with laptops and desktops geared at gamers, which will often come with an even higher voltage than the recommended stock Intel profile at a detriment to performance and efficiency - doing it just to be able to list higher numbers on the specs page at the expense of the usability of the machine.