Does a cpu with a TDP of 88 mean it will draw a maximum of 88 watts?

[DeadlyPilot]

title

[Nena Trinity]

On Intel that means average TDP not maximum last time I checked.

[WoodenMarker]

Here ya go:

 

[W-L]

8 minutes ago, DeadlyPilot said:

-SNIP-

Not exactly the power consumption is not a direct 1:1 measure to TDP or it would mean the CPU is only generating heat out of the 88W. It usually is a little bit more than I usually give a rough estimate of around 10-15% on top of that to account for the approx power draw, however this can vary between chips and such. 

 

-Moved to CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory-

[DeadlyPilot]

Just now, W-L said:

Not exactly the power consumption is not a direct 1:1 measure to TDP or it would mean the CPU is only generating heat out of the 88W. It usually is a little bit more than I usually give a rough estimate of around 10-15% on top of that to account for the approx power draw. 

so since a 4690k has a lower tdp than the 6600k, does that mean skylake draws more power?

[TheGamingLanceYT]

It is the average tdp but it can go lightly higher when stress testing your computer 

[W-L]

19 minutes ago, DeadlyPilot said:

so since a 4690k has a lower tdp than the 6600k, does that mean skylake draws more power?

I edited the last post  but not always it's a very rough way of determining how much it can draw but your best bet is to look at system benchmarks and to take the power consumption from there directly as they are direct measurements. It is very possible to have a lower power draw but higher TDP due to architectural differences in the design of the chip.  

[zMeul]

Quote

Thermal Design Power (TDP) represents the average power, in watts, the processor dissipates when operating at Base Frequency with all cores active under an Intel-defined, high-complexity workload.

does anyone knows what exactly is that "Intel-defined high-complexity workload"?

[EvilLemur]

10 minutes ago, Jorgen297 said:

probably aida64 or something

According to Intel its what they use to test the CPU under a workload that will not exceed TDP while keeping all cores engaged at 100% for X ammount of time, so thus they use the base frequency, and use it to QA the chip before release. 

[Mark77]

One thing to keep in mind with the lower-end Intel chips is that the GPU is a significant chunk (as much as half or even more) of the die and will also contribute to the overall load just like the "CPU" does.  But its rare to have both the CPU and the on-die GPU both fully loaded.  Intel likely has a proprietary in-house tool which exercises both.

[Mira Yurizaki]

To answer OP's question: TDP is not power consumption. So no, TDP does not mean the maximum power the part will consume. In fact, there is no such thing as a maximum. Semiconductors can trip what is known as thermal runway, where  at about 170C, the resistance of semiconductors decreases and so it draws more power into itself, burning itself out. As long as the power exists, it will draw whatever the circuit wants.

[DeadlyPilot]

On 9/11/2016 at 3:02 PM, M.Yurizaki said:

To answer OP's question: TDP is not power consumption. So no, TDP does not mean the maximum power the part will consume. In fact, there is no such thing as a maximum. Semiconductors can trip what is known as thermal runway, where  at about 170C, the resistance of semiconductors decreases and so it draws more power into itself, burning itself out. As long as the power exists, it will draw whatever the circuit wants.

So lets say im shopping for a new cpu and care a lot about how much it draws. What do I do to find this out without using a power supply calculator? I'm also wondering how much less skylake i7's and i5's draw compared to their previous architecture.

[Mira Yurizaki]

53 minutes ago, DeadlyPilot said:

So lets say im shopping for a new cpu and care a lot about how much it draws. What do I do to find this out without using a power supply calculator? I'm also wondering how much less skylake i7's and i5's draw compared to their previous architecture.

You'd have to find review sites that measured power consumption. However, this is usually system power consumption off the wall, so this includes the motherboard, storage drives, and usually the graphics card, and that's before efficiency kicks in.

 

Tom's Hardware does try to isolate the processor power consumption in their reviews, which you can find http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/skylake-intel-core-i7-6700k-core-i5-6600k,4252-11.html for the i7-6700K and i5-6600K compared to a bunch of other processors.

 

Generally speaking there is a rule: TDP is a general measure of power consumption. Higher TDP means more power consumed and vice versa.

[LazlowRave]

Thermodynamics is the branch of science concerned with heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work. Thermal Design Power is a relation to input and output, but it does not mean that it always draws listed TDP wattage. Lower efficient processers never really draw maximum input wattage, but the output (heat or TDP) can be slightly higher. Wattage isn't just a power sense.