In the last generations of graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA we are seeing that both manufacturers are leaving aside the TDP to indicate their electrical consumption, to use more specific values. A MD uses TBP while NVIDIA talks about TGP , but the problem is that each of them indicates different and not comparable values. So what does each of these values indicate and how are they different ?
In a processor, the TDP is translated as Thermal Design Power, and it refers to the thermal design of the processor that we can translate as the amount of heat that is necessary to dissipate for its proper functioning. However, in a GPU things change and in fact the term has a double connotation from a technical point of view. Let’s see it.
TBP from AMD and TGP from NVIDIA, what is the difference?
Before going to assess the terms used by both manufacturers, it is necessary to explain that in a graphics card TDP does not mean Thermal Design Power as in processors, but Thermal Design Parameter , a term directly related to another: GPU Power. This term is defined by the manufacturer and is translated as the heat given off by the GPU in the form of watts of heat.
AMD uses the term TBP, which stands for Total Board Power , and refers to the total and peak consumption of the graphics card, referring to the heat output given off by the graphics card as a whole and including all its elements, including the heatsink. and your fans, the lighting system, and if you have any other additional elements. Everything, and when we say everything is that it includes the consumption of memory chips, voltage controllers, etc.
In summary, when AMD defines the TBP of its graphics cards, it is telling us the total electrical consumption of its product, neither more nor less, and it differs from the TDP precisely in that it speaks of the heat given off by the GPU, while the TBP talks about electricity consumption.
For its part, NVIDIA gives the TGP parameter, which is the acronym for Total Graphic Power , which defines the electrical consumption of the GPU and its PCB added, but without counting the consumption of its heatsink and if it has a lighting system RGB. This means that when NVIDIA is giving us the TGP of its graphics card, it is talking about the consumption of the GPU and the PCB, but leaving the way for assemblers to modify the total consumption of the graphics card with their customized cooling and lighting systems. .
It is, as you can imagine, a less exact parameter than that of AMD when what we want to know is the total consumption of the graphics card, but as a general rule it will be quite close since the electrical consumption of the fans and the lighting system it is not normally very high, and at most we will have to add 15-20W (and that pulling very high) to the TGP that NVIDIA gives us.
When you want to know the consumption of a graph, what data is more reliable?
Obviously, when you want to know the total energy consumption of your graphics card, the one that best defines it is the TBP provided by AMD, since the NVIDIA TGP omits some elements of the set that makes up a graphics card, such as the heatsink and its system. of lighting, which although it is a negligible consumption compared to that of the GPU or VRAM, results in that the data does not represent the exact consumption of the graph.
In addition, you must bear in mind that we always talk about maximum or peak data, and they generally do not represent the actual consumption in use of the device. In other words, the TBP or TGP is almost never going to be exact with respect to the data of a real scenario, since it speaks of peak consumption and not the mean or median consumption.
