TDP of a laptop

hi guys, I just wanted to know on which component on a laptop the TDP depends on?? & whether changing the motherboard will increase the TDP rating???

 

A motherboard cannot affect the TDP of the system. This is dependant on the cooling design and implementation.

A CPU and/or GPU with a 35W TDP needs a notebook that can disipate that heat output continuously and hopefully relatively quietly to ensure that the cpu/gpu does not throttle due to heat issues.

Almost nothing short of removing the bottom cover will effectively change the TDP of a cooling system design (and attaching a large fan and/or air conditioned air flow to the bottom).

Sure, a better fan or a higher quality (i.e. larger) heatpipe would do the trick - but this would be all very custom built and not very cost-effective (and you may still be throttled in cpu/gpu high load situations because of any tweaks the manufacturer relied on in the shipping O/S and/or the BIOS.


So essentially, the TDP component(s) that matter are the CPU and/or GPU parts used.

Everything else needs to be built appropriately to accomadate these components so that no throttling takes place in the performance envelope they are designed to be used within.



Hope this helps.



Good luck.

 

no actually what I meant is i'm going to change the processor also... my question is can I buy a processor with higher TDP rating than 35W which is the current TDP rating of my notebook if I change the motherboard also????

 

The TDP is based on the processor or GPU, basically to measure how much heat the cooling system needs to cool. Obviously quad core processors have higher TDP than dual core ones.

You don't need a new motherboard, but just make sure you have good cooling especially if you are going to a higher TDP component.

What are your current temps? If they are low, you should be fine.

 

The ability to cool the CPU isn't decided by the motherboard, but by the heatsink and fan. Anyways, for most notebooks, there is only one motherboard model, two in some cases if there is a model with a dedicated GPU and one only with integrated graphics for example. In that case case, you'd need a new heatsink anyways. Maybe your heatsink can handle the extra TDP, maybe it can't, it's not something that you can easily determine unless someone already tried it or you have the specs for the heatsink.

 

The MoBo can take any TDP in terms of suplying sufficient power to the CPU. Cooling might be a problem. I am sure i could get a 55W into my laptop comming from 35W without cooling problems. But not all laptops have such a high ceiling. For your average consumer notebook i wouldnt recommend getting a higher TDP processor. Just stick to the TDP you are using as your laptop might overheat.

 

If you're swapping out for a compatible motherboard with your laptop then the TDP should not change at all.

The TDP of a laptop mostly depends on the CPU and GPU. The upgradeable CPU TDP difference between dual cores, quad cores and extreme in new laptops (arrandale and above) is usually 10 - 20 watts and GPU TDP difference can go very high but most users will never have to worry about that since most low-mid end GPU's are soldered onto the motherboard and those laptop's with luxury high end GPU's probably already have a adequate power supply to accommodate for user end GPU (SLI/Corssfire) upgrades.

 

As long as the processor you are intending to purchase for upgrade is supported by your current board, that is all you need. What you need to worry about more when it comes to TDP is both what others have mentioned about the cooling solution, as well as the power draw from the brick. As long as your brick/AC adapter provides enough watts, you should have no problems.

The motherboard just provides an interface. It does not depict power draw/consumption nor cooling capabilities.

 

when you upgrade to higher TDP you have to account for the VRMs on them other board, the cooling and the power adapter.

 

The impact of a 35w TDP vs 45w TDP is unlikely to convert to any concern about powerbricks or MoBo's capabilities as some want to mention for a reason that has no sense to me. As some including those same have mentioned TDP is 100% related to the "systems" ability to cool. Heat dissapation might be what it is called. Now if you know your system was offered with a 45w TDP CPU and no Cooling system variant was needed. You can be confident that you will not have issue. If your system currently operates on the lower end of the acceptable thermal envelope then might be worth the risk. If you have a cool running system and use a thermal pad even more likely that you can run a higher TDP CPU because you have increased the thermal disapation capibilities.

To be clear, TDP is a MFG determined # that is the thermal dissapation requirements of a cooling solution. Different MFG have different formulas for how this is determined. It is not like say 1 gallon is always 1 gallon. It is not absolute. It is also not based on the CPU stress tests that you can download for free. Those are used by OC'er's mostly. This is a number that the MFG determines might be real world usage, once again not stress test or worst case scenerio.

Also TDP is not a measure of CPU power draw but certain assumptions/extrapolations can be made in a relitive sense. My Ivy bridge i7 3517U has a lower max draw than Ivy bridge 35w TDP. Other larger form factors can skew things. The nanometer scale affects effiency thus heat generation. Smaller being more efficent thus less heat for similar performance.

Edit: To be clear, when I say each MFG has a different formula for TDP I mean Intel/AMD not Sony/DeLL/Asus.

 

The TDP is the highest amount of heat (according to the chip maker) that the component will generate when under sustained 100% load at it's stock clock/voltage, there is no point in giving a design spec if it isn't for the worse case scenario.

 

my notebook has a TDP of 35W in a core i3 processor.. all the intel quad core processors with low TDP like 35 or 45W are in a quite high price range.. again AMD processors quad core processors usually don't come in such low TDPs.... I'm a student & cannot afford to go overboard of $250-$270... what to do???

 

In any case you're limited to the same generation and CPU brand you have for a laptop. You'll likely have to make due with the CPU you have.

 

Do we know what system? It would be helpful but yes cost could make it not practical.

 

The hotter it gets them roe power power it draws, it have witnessed then first hand. My firmed and I used to have test bench in the back room at the shop we worked at, so of course for entertainment we would run cpus with no coolers in the bios HWmonitor, suffice to say the hotter they got the more the the PSU stressed untill it would start squealing, when the PSU is being stressed so do VRMs. The better you can cool it generally the less issues but, no matter the way you look at it higher TDP CPUs are higher wattage but, as you said you can make make certain assumption because it is true that may not always be the case but, generally is.

I have popped (blown) the VRMs on a few MSI Intel boards before.

 

I'm using a Samsung NP300E5C A09US (power rating 60W) system... n want to upgrade to a quad core processor...

 

you might want a better power brick, since you owuld be adding two more cores.

 

When I looked up your CPU on PassMark it gave a BGA socket which means your CPU and MoBo can't be seperated. If PGA then you could unplug the CPU.

 

so I have to change my MoBo as well.... bt the question remains abt the TDP of the processor..

 

You're probably out of luck. Even if it were possible, it won't be worth the money and effort to try to put a quad core CPU in your laptop when it clearly wasn't designed with one in mind.

 

A 3612QM or maybe even a 3632QM might work. They are both still 35W but are quad´s as well.

 

Mix and match BGA and PGA not going to work. It is a $500 notebook the math just does not work. Cheaper to just replace.

 

That i3-3110m comes both in BGA and PGA according to ark.intel,when you checked the specs was it for the OP's laptop in particular or just for the CPU?

 

Hey guys, I know that this thread hasn't had any activity for quite some time, but I'm in a bit of a pickle, and hope someone can help me out.

So here is the situation: I got my hands on a laptop, HP G71-449WM, and it originally had an Intel T4300 in it. I didn't bother to test it with that CPU because I had a T7500 laying around, so I swapped it in (both are 35W TDP).
Installed Windows 7 x64, and noticed that it was getting really hot.. Checked temps, they were up in the 90's! (in C!) That scared me, so I put it over the vent where the A/C was blowing, and that helped a bit but I shouldn't have to do that...
Updated BIOS, still the same thing.

I've been looking around for solutions but, nothing of use. I was wondering if I go the other direction of this thread, that is, can I go to a CPU with a lower TDP. I'm looking at a P9500 (25W TDP). Looks like a better CPU all around.

So the 2 questions I have are:
1. Will a P9500 CPU work with the chipset in that laptop (GL40)?
2. IF yes, would the temps be lower than what I am seeing with the T7500?

 

7sonic, what thermal interface did you use, and how much did you apply?

 

I have a bottle of this white stuff that a friend of mine gave me. I don't know what its called, but it's not like arctic silver or anything, it's very easy to spread, and I've used it on many computer builds, and a few laptops before this one.

I applied a generous amount, just enough for it to go over a little bit on the side. When I finished, it looked about as much as the thermal compound on the T4300 that I replaced.

 

7sonic, generous amount is actually very bad, especially on a laptop, and likely the cause of your problems. You need to apply thermal paste so that it covers the chip with thin layer.

 

I recently upgraded one of my laptops (see signature) from a T7700 to a T9300. There was, in practice, a substantial difference in thermal output, and the fan only runs relatively infrequently now at low settings(ie: only during video playback) while it was pretty much running full blast during video playback. I also gained an extra hour of battery life.

The issue you might run into is that the P9500 is a 1066MHz chip, while the T7500 was a 800Mhz chip, as is the T4300. Your hardware/chipset probably just isn't built to take 1066MHz chips. Therefore, limiting you to the T9500 as the top-end option, and the T9300 as a reasonable compromise (check the prices on eBay -- the T9500 premium hardly seems worth it!!!).

If you don't want to risk a lot of money, the T8100/T8300 are basically de-cached T9300/T9500 parts and can be had for around $10.

Of course it goes without saying that you should be running a SSD these days in any sort of laptop computer for the litany of benefits.

 

BTW, the T4300 is actually a de-rate and de-cache of the T9500/T9300. Same physical (Penryn) die. By going to the T7500, you took quite a step backwards thermally with the old 65nm Merom chip, which obviously is likely to 'break' the design of your laptop.

 

Thank you for the quick replies everyone.
pitz, I knew that T7500 was older but I guess I overlooked the architecture. I'm gonna try a P9500, because I found it for 20 bucks on ebay, as of writing this. The T9500 was 50. So I'll give it a go, and report back when I install it.

Starlight5, thanks for the suggestion, I'll be more careful with this next one. I won't try re-applying thermal paste at this point because it's a lot of work to get to the cpu on this notebook.

 

7sonic, P9500 for $20 - nice! In normal conditions, 90C is usually reachable only under extremely high load, e.g. Prime95 or other stress-testing and the most demanding games. If your CPU reaches 90C under light or mediocre load, it is highly advisable that you either reapply thermal paste ASAP or stop using this notebook until P9500 arrives. Good luck!

 

I'm skeptical that the P9500 will work due to the different FSB, but at $20 it's not a big risk. I know on my Inspiron, with an 800 MHz FSB, 1066 FSB CPUs such as the P9500 will not work, except possibly with a pin mod (hardware modification). However, there's a chance your G71 might work with it - every laptop is different, and I don't know much about the G71 in particular.

When you reapplied thermal paste, did you also make sure to clear the dust out of the vents? I recently repasted the CPU of a relative's laptop, but as part of that I also got the dust out of the vents. And while it didn't look like there was much visually, once I started using compressed air on it, there actually was a lot of dust. The new thermal paste alone probably wouldn't have made much difference with that much dust - the fundamental problem was that the heat couldn't escape. If you didn't dust out the laptop properly, make sure to do so when trying the P9500.

 

After a whole bunch of hoops that I jumped through, I finally got a P9500. Took apart that stinkin laptop one more time, and put it back together, aaaaaannnndddd nothin... FSB must be causing the issue. That laptop was almost not meant to be taken apart. On the brightside, I can take it apart and put it back together in less than 45 minutes now. lol

So back to square one. I was looking at CPU scores on cpubenchmark.net and it looks like any upgrade i do make, (t9500 being the highest) really isnt that big of a jump in performance. Besides, an ssd probably makes a big enough difference anyway. So I think in order not to spend too much more money (and time), I can get a t6600 for $3 and just call it a day.