I'm kind of new to being able to overclock my CPU. My previous laptops all had chips that couldn't be overclocked, but the one I have now, an i7-7820HK, can be overclocked to 3.9GHz. However, I very rarely need that extra power, so I keep it at its base clock most of the time. In fact, the only application that really requires overclocking is Dolphin when OCing the emulated GC/Wii CPU or using certain 60FPS codes. But it's kind of a pain to go into the BIOS every time I want to do this. So here's the question:
If I overclock my CPU, is it always running at that overclocked rate? I'd like to have it overclocked at all times just so it's not a pain when I want to use it, but I'm worried that I'll reduce the lifespan of my CPU that way. Are CPUs somehow able to know how intense the current workload is and dynamically adjust the clock rate, or are they always running at the same speed and just doing nops when there's nothing to do? My basic knowledge of CPU hardware suggests the second, but I don't know for sure since I haven't studied modern CPUs. So is it safe or should I avoid it?
If I overclock my CPU, is it always running at that overclocked rate? I'd like to have it overclocked at all times just so it's not a pain when I want to use it, but I'm worried that I'll reduce the lifespan of my CPU that way. Are CPUs somehow able to know how intense the current workload is and dynamically adjust the clock rate, or are they always running at the same speed and just doing nops when there's nothing to do? My basic knowledge of CPU hardware suggests the second, but I don't know for sure since I haven't studied modern CPUs. So is it safe or should I avoid it?