TDP (thermal design power) A cooling target in watts, and why it is not your electricity bill.
Short answer. TDP, thermal design power, is a watt rating that tells a system designer how much heat a processor’s cooling must be built to remove. It is a design target, not a measure of the power a chip draws at any moment. Intel’s support page notes that a processor can exceed its TDP for a limited time in turbo, until it reaches a throttle temperature or a power limit, and that Intel replaced the label with ‘Processor Base Power’ from its 12th generation. AMD gives the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 a default TDP of 55 W and a configurable range of 45 to 120 W, and NVIDIA lists 145 W maximum power for the RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell.
01
What TDP is, and is not
Chip makers use different names. Intel used TDP and now says Processor Base Power. AMD publishes a default TDP and a configurable range, cTDP. NVIDIA publishes maximum power consumption for its cards. All are ratings for choosing cooling and a power supply.
None is the wall-socket draw of a whole machine. Under lighter loads a chip draws less than its rating, and for short periods it can draw more. Two machines built on the same chip can also be set to different power limits, which is what a configurable range allows.
02
Published ratings
Part
Figure
Name the vendor uses
Notes
AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
55 W default; 45 to 120 W configurable
Default TDP and cTDP
The whole chip: CPU, GPU and NPU (AMD)
NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell
145 W
Max power consumption
Single-slot card with active cooling (NVIDIA)
NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF Edition
70 W
Max power consumption
2.7 in by 6.6 in, dual slot (NVIDIA)
NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition
600 W
Max power consumption
5.4 in by 12.0 in, dual slot (NVIDIA)
03
From watts to rupees
Energy in kilowatt-hours is watts multiplied by hours, divided by 1,000. A machine drawing a steady 150 W for 24 hours uses 3.6 kWh. Multiply by your tariff, which varies by state and connection. A chip’s TDP covers the chip alone, not the whole machine, so measure the machine at the wall during a long job if the bill matters. Our electricity question page has more.
04
What to ask a vendor
What power limit does the machine run the chip at, and is it adjustable? On NVIDIA GPUs the power limit can be set with nvidia-smi.
What does the whole machine draw at the wall during a one-hour job, and when idle?
How loud is it at that load, and what is the maximum room temperature it is rated for?
Does speed hold for an hour, or fall after the first few minutes? See thermal throttling.
What power supply is fitted, and is there headroom?
05
Where ANVE stands
No sealed ANVE unit exists yet, so there are no measured power or noise figures to quote. Ask any vendor for wall-power readings under a long job, and get any figure ANVE gives in writing before a paid pilot.
06
Questions people ask
Is TDP the same as power consumption?
No. It is a cooling target. Intel says processors can draw more for a limited time during turbo, until they reach a throttle temperature or power limit, and they draw less under light load.
What is cTDP?
AMD’s configurable TDP: a range the system maker can set for a chip. For the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 AMD lists 45 to 120 W, with 55 W as the default.
Does a higher TDP mean faster AI?
A higher power limit lets a chip hold higher speeds, but only if the cooling can remove the heat. Compare sustained results rather than ratings.
Why did Intel stop saying TDP?
Intel says that from its 12th generation the term TDP is replaced with Processor Base Power.
07
What is not real yet
No sealed ANVE unit exists; every image of the appliance on this site is a labelled render. The software runs today on a development machine. No customers yet, no certifications, no delivery date, and the final price is not announced.
Reservations are ₹999 in India or US$12 elsewhere, refundable in full until you confirm an order in writing (terms). Offices that cannot use cloud AI can apply to be one of ten design partners.
