[SOLVED] Do Cards Reach Max TDP on boot?

xxxbabyxxx

Reputable
Dec 4, 2020
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4,595
Hello,

1- Do GPUs/CPU/etc BOOT using max TDP?

2- Do they only reach max TDP on full load?

3- Are they always max TDP unless OC underclocked?

4-Most importantly is how would they behave during boot, say you got them underclocked via msi afterburner, would they boot up using full max TDP and then apply MSI Afterburner or how would that work exactly?

Thank you.
 
Solution
1- Do GPUs/CPU/etc BOOT using max TDP?
From what I've observed using a Kill-A-Watt, which admittedly is not sufficient for this test, no. If you pretend TDP is expected power draw, my computer should peak at about 300W (220 for the card, 65W for the CPU, and some extra for the rest of the system), but I only see it get up to like 150W or so before settling down. The CPU however will typically initialize to its base clock speeds however. The video card may be in a lower power mode too since it's not doing anything hard.

But again, the Kill-A-Watt is not sufficient as it's only polling once a second or so. It could've spiked up to 300W, it just didn't see it or it averaged out.

2- Do they only reach max TDP on full load?
...

DimkaTsv

Commendable
Nov 7, 2021
171
25
1,640
Hello,

1- Do GPUs/CPU/etc BOOT using max TDP?

2- Do they only reach max TDP on full load?

3- Are they always max TDP unless OC underclocked?

4-Most importantly is how would they behave during boot, say you got them underclocked via msi afterburner, would they boot up using full max TDP and then apply MSI Afterburner or how would that work exactly?

Thank you.

  1. No they should not... Maximum fan will spin at 100% for few seconds as device check. But no actual load on GPU or CPU. You can check it by loading in BIOS and looking at CPU frequency. You will not see boost frequencies there - means no load = not even close to being power limited. Usually it is idle around 30W consumption

  2. Yes, but kinda. Actually even with full load they may not hit max TDP if load isn't very heavy. At least that's happening with my TDP (133-138 (peak)W from base of max 120W) 1060 3GB in BDO... full load, but only 105-130W power. Same for CPU. It can boosts to max frequency, but no actual load, so no hitting PPT or EDC

  3. No, they are not. Any somehow modern stuff have really good dynamic clock and power managment. They will not use more than absolutely needed and no more than they dictated by power limit. So without load GPU will run at... Well my 1060 runs 31-33W right now... which is REALLY far away from power limit of 133 i will get under load.

  4. MSI Afterburner presets work ONLY after PC booted up and actually autorun Afterburner (or you did it manually). Before that only stock settings will apply. But without load, no, you will not get maxed power consumption
 
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1- Do GPUs/CPU/etc BOOT using max TDP?
From what I've observed using a Kill-A-Watt, which admittedly is not sufficient for this test, no. If you pretend TDP is expected power draw, my computer should peak at about 300W (220 for the card, 65W for the CPU, and some extra for the rest of the system), but I only see it get up to like 150W or so before settling down. The CPU however will typically initialize to its base clock speeds however. The video card may be in a lower power mode too since it's not doing anything hard.

But again, the Kill-A-Watt is not sufficient as it's only polling once a second or so. It could've spiked up to 300W, it just didn't see it or it averaged out.

2- Do they only reach max TDP on full load?
Yes. Though keep in mind "load" just means something is running on it, whether you intended something to run on it or not.

3- Are they always max TDP unless OC underclocked?
If you're asking if they'll always go up to max TDP if the conditions permit, then yes. If you're asking if they'll stay at max TDP, then no, it depends on what's going on in the system.

4-Most importantly is how would they behave during boot, say you got them underclocked via msi afterburner, would they boot up using full max TDP and then apply MSI Afterburner or how would that work exactly?
Without an OS, hardware will run at a default configuration. For the CPU, this usually means they'll run at base clock speeds. For the GPU, it likely boots into a lower power mode because it's not reasonable to expect needing its power until you've actually loaded into an OS.
 
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