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The Thermal Design Power (TDP) (sometimes called Thermal Design Point) represents the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. For example, a laptop
Laptop

A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile computing small enough to sit on one's lap. A laptop includes most of the Computer hardware of a typical desktop computer, including a Computer display, a computer keyboard, a pointing device as well as a battery, into a single small and light unit....
's CPU
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
 cooling system may be designed for a 20 W TDP, which means that it can dissipate
Dissipation

In physics, dissipation embodies the concept of a dynamical system where important mechanical modes, such as waves or oscillations, lose energy over time, typically due to the action of friction or turbulence....
 (either via an active cooling method such as a fan, a passive cooling method via natural convection
Convection

Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of molecules within fluids . Convection is one of the major modes of heat transfer and mass transfer....
, via heat radiation or all three modes of heat transfer) 20 watt
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
s of heat without exceeding the maximum junction temperature
Junction temperature

Junction temperature is the highest temperature of the actual semiconductor in an electronic device. In operation it is higher than case temperature, the temperature of the part's exterior....
 for the chip.






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The Thermal Design Power (TDP) (sometimes called Thermal Design Point) represents the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. For example, a laptop
Laptop

A laptop is a personal computer designed for mobile computing small enough to sit on one's lap. A laptop includes most of the Computer hardware of a typical desktop computer, including a Computer display, a computer keyboard, a pointing device as well as a battery, into a single small and light unit....
's CPU
Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit . The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for electronic calculators, using Binary-coded decimal arithmetic on 4-bit Word ....
 cooling system may be designed for a 20 W TDP, which means that it can dissipate
Dissipation

In physics, dissipation embodies the concept of a dynamical system where important mechanical modes, such as waves or oscillations, lose energy over time, typically due to the action of friction or turbulence....
 (either via an active cooling method such as a fan, a passive cooling method via natural convection
Convection

Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of molecules within fluids . Convection is one of the major modes of heat transfer and mass transfer....
, via heat radiation or all three modes of heat transfer) 20 watt
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
s of heat without exceeding the maximum junction temperature
Junction temperature

Junction temperature is the highest temperature of the actual semiconductor in an electronic device. In operation it is higher than case temperature, the temperature of the part's exterior....
 for the chip. The TDP is typically not the most power the chip could ever draw (such as by a power virus
Power virus

A power virus is a malicious computer program that executes specific machine code in order to reach the maximum CPU power dissipation . Computer cooling apparatus are designed to dissipate power up to the Thermal Design Power, rather than maximum power, and a power virus could cause the system to overheat; if it does not have logic to stop t...
), but rather the maximum power that it would draw when running real applications. This ensures the computer will be able to handle essentially all applications without exceeding its thermal envelope, or requiring a cooling system for the maximum theoretical power, which would cost more and achieve no real benefit.

Since the definition of "real applications" and the safety margins vary between manufacturers, TDP values between different manufacturers cannot be accurately compared. While a processor with a TDP of 100 W will almost certainly use more power at full load than a processor with a 10 W TDP, it may or may not use more power than a processor from a different manufacturer that has a 90 W TDP. Additionally, TDPs are often specified for families of processors, with the low-end models using significantly less power than those at the high end of the family.

See also

  • CPU power dissipation
    CPU power dissipation

    CPU power dissipation or Central processing unit power dissipation is the process in which Central processing units consume electrical energy, and dissipate this energy by both the action of the switching devices contained in the CPU and via the energy lost in the form of heat due to the resistivity of the electrical circuits....


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