Thermal Design Power, or TDP, is a statistic that is expressed in

watts. Its an expression of the amount of power a processor is

expected to dissipate to prevent overheating. For example, a part
with a 12W TDP will could potentially be cooled by a very small fan
or a passive heatsink. A part with a 95W TDP, on the other hand, is
going to need a substantial dedicated heatsink with a reasonably
large fan (probably 80mm).

youre most likely to see these three little letters attached to a CPU
or GPUs spec sheet, but it can be used to express the maximum
power draw of a wide variety of electronics.

Since this metric is based on power, its a useful way to understand

how much power a component will draw relative to the competition.
A lower thermal design power generally results in lower power
consumption which means greater battery life.

TDP is a self-reported metric. Each manufacturer announces it based

on their own findings. Such a system often results in exaggerations,
but in this case, theres reason to trust the numbers. If TDP was not
reported with reasonable accuracy it would cause all sorts of
problems, as companies would be building products that cant
properly handle the part.

Configurable TDP

Configurable TDP (cTDP), also known as programmable TDP or TDP power cap, is an
operating mode of later generations of Intel mobile processors (as of January 2014) and
AMD processors (as of June 2012) that allows adjustments in their TDP values. By
modifying the processor behavior and its performance levels, power consumption of a
processor can be changed altering its TDP at the same time. That way, a processor can
operate at higher or lower performance levels, depending on the available cooling
capacities and desired power consumption.[9]:6972[10][11]
Intel processors that support cTDP provide three operating modes: [9]:7172

Nominal TDP this is the processor's rated frequency and TDP.

cTDP down when a cooler or quieter mode of operation is desired, this mode
specifies a lower TDP and lower guaranteed frequency versus the nominal mode.
 cTDP up when extra cooling is available, this mode specifies a higher TDP and
higher guaranteed frequency versus the nominal mode.
For example, some of the mobile Haswell processors support cTDP up, cTDP down, or both
modes.[12] As another example, some of the AMD Opteron processors and KaveriAPUs can
be configured for lower TDP values.[10][11][13] IBM's POWER8 processor implements a similar
power capping functionality through its embedded on-chip controller (OCC).[14]

Examples Of TDP

As stated above, the various parts can have vastly different TDPs.
Perhaps the most common example is the difference between a
modern ARM processor designed for smartphones and a desktop
processor designed for home and office PCs.

The Snapdragon processors found in so many of

todays smartphones have stated TDPs of .5 to 1 watt, while a Core
i5-2500 has a TDP of 95 watts. Thats a massive difference, and
representative of the difference in each parts power consumption
and performance.
Modern GPUs have even higher TDPs, with some parts quoting a TDP
of over 225 watts. This doesnt mean that the part will be
consuming that much power all of the time, but it does mean that
engineers designing the part consider it possible that this level of
power draw will need to be dissipated for a sustained period of time.

How TDP Knowledge Can Benefit You

Now that you know this information you may be wondering how it
can be useful. While TDP is commonly quoted, its not a precise
gauge of power consumption or performance, but rather an
engineering guideline.

Still, having a look at the thermal design power of a part can tell you
a lot about its strengths and weaknesses. The best example
currently is in Intels Core line of mobile processors. When
examining the processor list youll notice that parts like the Core i5-
2540M have TDP of 35W, while the Core i5-2557M has a 17W TDP.

This tells you that the Core i5-2557M is designed to use less power
than the Core i5-2540M. Since its based on the same architecture,
this also means it will provide worse performance but better battery
life. If youre looking for a portable laptop, the Core i5-2557M would
be better. If you care about performance, the Core i5-2540M is ideal.
Similar conclusions can be made from the TDPs of desktop parts.
AMDs latest Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition has a TDP of 125W,
while (as mentoned above) the Core i5-2500 has a TDP of 95W. And
what do you know in benchmarks, it turns out the AMD X4
980 draws more power.

Conclusion
TDP is one of several important statistics that can help you hash out
the performance and power efficiency of a new processor. While
nothing can replace benchmarking, knowing a parts TDP (as well as
its architecture and clock speed) will help you make an educated
guess about how a new part will perform.