The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component (often a CPU, GPU or system on a chip) that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate under any workload.

TDP stands for thermal design power or, depending who you ask, thermal design profile. The TDP number tells you the maximum heat a computer chip, such as a CPU or GPU, can use in watts. It also is often used as a basic indicator of power consumption. More watts equals better performance, but also higher temperatures and more power consumption.

TDP stands for Thermal Design Power, and is used to measure the amount of heat a component is expected to output when under load. For example, a CPU may have a TDP of 90W, and therefore is expected to output 90W worth of heat when in use.