AMD 7970M true TDP level?

On most sources (if not all) the TDP of this card is claimed to be 100W tdp. The same as the 6990M.

The reason I have started this thread is to get some feedback from users running this card. Especially those who upgraded from the 6990M.

Many I have read say the card runs cooler but I can't see much hard evidence yet to confirm it.

I would love to see this being true as it means to TDP MUST be lower than the older 6990M. Meaning coupled with an undervolt a TDP in the ballpark of the 5870M might be attainable.

Confirming this would be a huge plus for many of us willing to upgrade but afraid to have another "hottie" that simply can barely be cooled at stock clocks and undervolt let alone at a desirable OC when needed in the future.

7970M owners please post your experiences Cheers!

 

It definitely has a lower TDP than the 6900m series (6970m and 6990m), not only idle but also under load I get at least 10°C lower max temps.
I undervolted the 3d profile, but also at stock voltage it runs distinctly cooler.

 

Awesome feedback mate. Could you vote in the lil poll

 

Isn't TDP a pretty much meaningless statistic because you rarely, if ever, hit that rating?

 

guys, I am not very knowledgeable in this area (especially slv7 is talking, we should listen to him ) but isn't TDP a single number? I mean Thermal Design Point cannot vary right? if they are saying 100W I would say it is not an interval like 75W-100W, but power draw maybe different? Please someone explain a little

 

Sometimes called Thermal Design Point, it's actually Thermal Design Power.

And yes it can vary.. but to ensure a good design one says 100W to make sure that it needs a sufficient amount of cooling to survive

See page 5 and 6 @ ftp://download.intel.com/design/network/papers/30117401.pdf , also according to this, TDP values between different manufacturers cannot be accurately compared.
Same goes for the GPU (not the exact same way, but the calculations line up) as it needs more power it draws more power and the voltage changes.. I might be explaining this wrong, but that's approx. how it works.

 

In terms of power consumption it is close to a 75w card as this shows 166.3w Alienware M17x R4 Notebook Review - Notebookcheck.net Reviews stress test for 7970m machine vs 218.4w on the 675m machine: Review Clevo P170EM Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

80-90 I'd expect. If it's 100 then AMD has a lot of work to do.

 

Yes, it's a single number, the OP simply entered an interval in the poll because he doesn't know the exact value, with 75W-100W he wanted to give a range for the possible TDP.

The TDP corresponds to the max power draw.

And the TDP can vary... depending on the design of the chip, though that depends on how you look at it...
The TDP of a chip tells the system designer what kind of cooling capacity is needed to run it properly. So the TDP actually can't just change, cause else the system might not be cooled sufficiently anymore. (The cooling isn't variable after all, you only have a fix amount of heatpipes
...but the TDP isn't only used to describe the cooling capability... for example in some Intel CPUs it is used to set throttling thresholds. This can for example allow a system designer to run a CPU below it's max TDP, in order to reduce heat (but also performance).
Or it allows overclockers to do some crazy stuff and run a 920xm with 55W stock TDP at 150W+ (hehehe ), as long as the TDP is unlocked (which isn't true for most CPUs).

 

Very beautifully explained! I'm bad at that so my post turned out to be slightly retarded, thank you very much svl7 I'll rep ASA I can again