A dynamically configurable overprovisioned microprocessor optimally supports a variety of different compute application workloads and with the capability to tradeoff among compute performance, energy consumption, and clock frequency on a per-compute application basis, using general-purpose microprocessor designs. In some embodiments, the overprovisioned microprocessor comprises a physical compute resource and a dynamic configuration logic configured to: detect an activation-warranting operating condition; undarken the physical compute resource responsive to detecting the activation-warranting operating condition; detect a configuration-warranting operating condition; and configure the overprovisioned microprocessor to use the undarkened physical compute resource responsive to detecting the configuration-warranting operating condition.