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Since when was TDP a deciding factor in desktop purchasing decisions? Sure M SOCs are great on laptops, but there are no reasons to get them on the desktop, slo

Since when was TDP a deciding factor in desktop purchasing decisions? Sure M SOCs are great on laptops, but there are no reasons to get them on the desktop, slower, more expensive and with less compatibility.

zbrozek 3y ago
Where and when electric energy is $0.51/kWh, one might care quite a bit.
- jacooper 3y ago
  I doubt the target customers of the M2 ultra aren't going to be able to cover extra energy costs for a cheaper and more performant device.
  - zbrozek 3y ago
    Oh sure, but I was responding to the comment above saying that desktop users in general shouldn't care about power consumption. That's too broad.
- ianai 3y ago
  It’s such a strawman point. But this comparison is totally bonkers. If you’re doing a workload meant for a 4080/4090 then you really have no business pointing at the M2 Ultra as a competitor. Then there’s comparing like technology to like technology. Something like the 5700G AMD line, and that’s not even nvidia. But that probably isn’t as interesting to the authors.
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  Whoever is doing the caring should reconsider their life choices at that price. At 51 cents per kilowatt hour, personal solar + batteries are a vailable alternative. If you cared about the planet, you'd move
daneel_w 3y ago
I considered it an important factor even 15 years ago, long before the reality of the environmental and energy crises really dawned on us. Surely I can't be alone.
jlund-molfese 3y ago
Lower power consumption means less heat, which means you might see more reliable performance (less likelihood of throttling in the middle of intensive workloads) This doesn’t matter for everyone’s use case, but it is a factor some people might consider.
mrangle 3y ago
TDP reduction = heat management = reliability management but mostly noise management. I've never tried to water cool a 125 watt processor and so I can't speak to that. But especially if one uses air cooling or ideally passive cooling, one's ability to reduce noise is proportional to the chip's TDP. Noise reduction is important to many.

zbrozek 3y ago

Where and when electric energy is $0.51/kWh, one might care quite a bit.

jacooper 3y ago
I doubt the target customers of the M2 ultra aren't going to be able to cover extra energy costs for a cheaper and more performant device.
- zbrozek 3y ago
  Oh sure, but I was responding to the comment above saying that desktop users in general shouldn't care about power consumption. That's too broad.
ianai 3y ago
It’s such a strawman point. But this comparison is totally bonkers. If you’re doing a workload meant for a 4080/4090 then you really have no business pointing at the M2 Ultra as a competitor. Then there’s comparing like technology to like technology. Something like the 5700G AMD line, and that’s not even nvidia. But that probably isn’t as interesting to the authors.
readthenotes1 3y ago
Whoever is doing the caring should reconsider their life choices at that price. At 51 cents per kilowatt hour, personal solar + batteries are a vailable alternative. If you cared about the planet, you'd move

daneel_w 3y ago

I considered it an important factor even 15 years ago, long before the reality of the environmental and energy crises really dawned on us. Surely I can't be alone.

jlund-molfese 3y ago

Lower power consumption means less heat, which means you might see more reliable performance (less likelihood of throttling in the middle of intensive workloads) This doesn’t matter for everyone’s use case, but it is a factor some people might consider.

mrangle 3y ago

TDP reduction = heat management = reliability management but mostly noise management. I've never tried to water cool a 125 watt processor and so I can't speak to that. But especially if one uses air cooling or ideally passive cooling, one's ability to reduce noise is proportional to the chip's TDP. Noise reduction is important to many.