Thermal design power

This article is about the thermal design envelope of microprocessors. For the general concept, see power rating.
Heatsink made of aluminum fins and core mounted on a motherboard, with an approximately half hand-sized fan attached on the top of it. The aluminum core of the heatsink contacts the 40x40mm CPU surface underneath it, taking heat away through thermal conduction. This heatsink is designed with the cooling capacity matching the CPU’s TDP
Heatsink mounted on a motherboard, cooling the CPU underneath it. This heatsink is designed with the cooling capacity matching the CPU’s TDP.

The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component (often a CPU, GPU or system on a chip) that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate under any workload.

Some sources state that the peak power rating for a microprocessor is usually 1.5 times the TDP rating.[1]

Intel has introduced a new metric called scenario design power (SDP) for some Ivy Bridge Y-series processors.[2][3]

  1. ^ John L. Hennessy; David A. Patterson (2012). Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach (5th ed.). Elsevier. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-12-383872-8.
  2. ^ Anand Lal Shimpi (2013-01-14). "Intel Brings Core Down to 7W, Introduces a New Power Rating to Get There: Y-Series SKUs Demystified". anandtech.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  3. ^ Crothers, Brooke (2013-01-09). "Intel responds to cooked power efficiency claims". ces.cnet.com. Retrieved 2014-02-11.