I’m a fairly technical person but I’m a touch confused. People say “ahh this GBA game runs for 9-10 hours with a TDP lowered to X.”

Is it not just the equivalent of less demanding games drawing less power? If a game doesn’t utilize 100% of the APU… Won’t it just consume less power on its own? What is the benefit of setting a hard cap?

  • L0lil0l0@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    TDP settings is like a performance limiter on your Steam Deck. The lower the TDP is set, the more limited performance, less fan noise and the more battery life you get.

    For demanding games you usually want to set the TDP as high as possible.

    For less demanding games you may want to lower the TDP to gain battery life and silence.

    Witcher 3 for example is perfect for me at 9w. I get a bit less fps but it stays around 30fps and I don’t need more. This setting gives me more than 30mn more battery and a much quieter fan noise.