thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

IT Support & Hardware · Intermediate

Thermal Design Power (TDP)

The rated heat output, in watts, a cooling system must dissipate for a processor under typical sustained load.

Definition

TDP guides cooler and power supply selection, but real power draw can exceed it during boost periods. Vendors now publish related limits such as Intel Processor Base Power and Maximum Turbo Power, or AMD's PPT. Laptop CPUs come in low-TDP variants for thin designs.

Example

A 65 W TDP CPU needs a cooler rated for at least 65 W of heat dissipation.

Exam tip

TDP is about cooling and is not the exact maximum electrical draw of the chip.

Related terms