Power limit (TDP)
Also searched as: power limit · tdp · thermal design power · wattage limit · power target
What it means
A power limit (often called TDP) is the wattage budget a CPU or GPU is allowed to draw. Hit the ceiling and the chip pulls its clocks back to stay inside it — even when it is running cool.
More detail
Modern chips boost their clocks as high as the power and temperature budgets allow, then back off when they reach either ceiling. The power limit is the wattage one: a GPU rated for, say, 250 watts lowers its clocks once it is pulling that much, which caps sustained performance regardless of temperature. …
In the Blackbook
The deeper explanation continues inside the app. The Blackbook publishes its verdicts here — the full write-ups stay in the book, on your rig, next to your own measurements.
The Compy Blackbook holds 191 graded entries like this one, judged against your hardware — and every change it does make is reversible, with the receipt to prove it.
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