Each generation that passes the graphics cards, like any component, are more and more specific, and this leads to changing or introducing certain parameters to explain different aspects of them. Three of them are called TDP, TBP and TGP , something that will sound like a completely different language to many, but what are they and how do they differ?
There is an error that the average user makes very often and that he is surely not aware of. It is nothing more than naming the term TDP for a CPU and a GPU with the same meaning, because no, they are not the same, although they are related.
TDP vs. TGP vs. TBP, what are the differences?
In a CPU the TDP is translated as Thermal Design Power and refers to the thermal design that said processor has and that it is necessary to cool, but in GPU the term has a double connotation from a technical point of view.
TDP
In a TDP graphics card it does not mean Thermal Design Power, but Thermal Design Parameter , which has to do and is directly related to the term GPU Power, which is currently deprecated, but which comes to refer to the same thing.
The TDP of a graphics card (GPU really as such) is defined by the manufacturer and refers to the thermal parameter that the GPU generates, that is, the heat that it gives off in the form of watts and is therefore defined with a parameter such as watts.
This is the parameter most used by everyone and as such, manufacturers advertise their models with it, but currently there are two more that are even more specific, since knowing the consumption of the GPU is only giving the information in a way incomplete.
TGP
Therefore, the TGP is the acronym for Total Graphic Power and is understood in only one way: the consumption of the GPU and its entire PCB, but without its cooling and lighting system. Formerly the TGP was called Total Board Power, but this parameter changed its definition for what was discussed just below.
In other words, the TBP referred to the total peak consumption of the graphics card itself, with all its dissipation systems and LEDs included. Therefore, TGP has ended up being more specific, being a value that makes more reference to the card itself. To understand it better, it is the typical case of the reference PCB that all manufacturers use, but each one adds its own dissipation and lighting system.
Therefore, the TGP of those models would be the same because they share PCBs, instead, they would have different TBP.
TBP
This parameter refers to the acronym for Total Board Power and differs from the TDP or TGP in a very basic aspect: it affects the total and peak consumption of the graphics card. What does this refer to specifically? Well, we can summarize it as the heat output given off by the entire card as a whole, including auxiliary systems such as LEDs, fans and more.
Here they enter from the GDDR6 memories, passing through the HBM and its versions, voltage controllers, VRM, coils, capacitors and even the LEDs, fans or independent consumption systems that the graphics card itself has.
In summary, if we want to know how much a graphics card will consume as a general and functional concept of it, we have to look at its TBP. If we only want to know the consumption of the GPU only, we will look at the TDP and if we want to know GPU + PCB without the auxiliary systems we will look at the TGP.