Friday, October 28, 2016

What is TDP and why should you care about it?

Should you be looking at various parts to build a PC with, or to upgraded a specific component, you may have come across a term on your travels: TDP. But what exactly is TDP and why should you even care about the value provided by a manufacturer? We break everything down for you.

So, what is TDP?

TDP stands for Thermal Design Power, and is used to measure the amount of heat a component is expected to output when under load. For example, a CPU may have a TDP of 90W, and therefore is expected to output 90W worth of heat when in use. It can cause for confusion when shopping around for new hardware as some may take the TDP value and design a PC build around that, taking note of the watt usage. But this isn't entirely accurate, nor is it completely wrong.

Our 90W TDP CPU example doesn't mean the processor will need 90W of power from the power supply, even though thermal design power is actually measured in watts. Instead of showcasing what the component will require as raw input, manufacturers use TDP as a nominal value for cooling systems to be designed around. It's also extremely rare you will ever hit the TDP of a CPU or GPU unless you rely on intensive applications and processes.

The higher the TDP the more cooling will be required, be it in passive technologies, fan-based coolers or liquid platforms. You'll not be able to keep a 220W AMD FX-9590 with a laptop CPU cooler, for example.

TDP ≠ power draw?



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