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Razer Blade 13 Will Have Switchable TDP, Intel Says

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The Razer Blade 13, the newly announced gaming ultraportable revealed here in Berlin at IFA today, will have adjustable TDP though the Razer Synapse software, Intel said at a talk largely discussing its upcoming mobile chips.

The talk was hosted by Intel's vice president of tech leadership marketing, Jon Carvill, and chief performance strategist, Ryan Shrout.

When we tested an Ice Lake developer system, we were able to switch between 15W and 25W through Windows but were told that wouldn't be the case for most laptops. We're curious to see how Razer implements an adjustable TDP. 

Razer told Tom's Hardware that this will be synonymous with what has always been allowed in Synapse through Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver modes since the original Blade 15 on Synapse, though it didn't commit to continue using that nomenclature. 

The cooling, Intel said, is meant for the 25W chip, so it's unclear what benefits users might find in battery life or other areas by lowering it.

Update: Sept. 4 at 7:47 p.m. CEST: Updated with comment from Razer.

Andrew E. Freedman
Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming as well as keeping up with the latest news. He holds a M.S. in Journalism (Digital Media) from Columbia University. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Kotaku, PCMag, Complex, Tom's Guide and Laptop Mag among others.
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Giroro
    I'm sure the processor will down-clock when idle, so lowering the clock/TDP will just make the processor work for a longer period of time before going idle. I think it will have a small effect on battery life, at best. There's even a chance it could lower battery life if doing the work slower keeps other parts of the system active for longer as well. Usually a switchable TDP isn't about efficiency, it is is so a designer can make the a single chip work in multiple machines/form factors without having to keep multiple parts in inventory, right?
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    So from thermal throttle to thermal throttle worse. Nice!
    Reply
  • GetSmart
    From around the net, first Razer Blade Stealth' with Ice Lake GPU performance surpasses Ryzen Mobile (in Japanese). Second, videos of Razer Blade Stealth hands on... qvfWudQSfQwAnd running Halo: Reach...yk_0wsjPqpM
    Reply
  • NightHawkRMX
    AMD needs to get 7nm for notebooks.

    They are like backward from intel.

    Intel unveils new nodes to mobile first. AMD unveils new nodes to desktop first.
    Reply
  • Joe Braga
    remixislandmusic said:
    AMD needs to get 7nm for notebooks.

    They are like backward from intel.

    Intel unveils new nodes to mobile first. AMD unveils new nodes to desktop first.
    How so? Intel presented new mobile cpu SKUs but you need the Laptops' AIB s is still used to fab more laptops intel CPU based but 7nm mobile cpu will come in next year
    Reply
  • DavidC1
    Giroro said:
    I'm sure the processor will down-clock when idle, so lowering the clock/TDP will just make the processor work for a longer period of time before going idle.

    Laptops already switch TDP depending on what you do. Convertibles switch between cTDPdown and Nominal when you switch from Tablet/Laptop mode. Nothing is special about this Razer.

    Maybe its user configurable. You can use lower TDP mode in browsing/video watching to keep fan speeds down, and higher TDP for gaming and other demanding loads.

    I think it will have a small effect on battery life, at best. There's even a chance it could lower battery life if doing the work slower keeps other parts of the system active for longer as well.

    It depends heavily on load and the system. Higher TDP will have worse battery life on higher loads, and in workloads that needs sustained performance. In that case, faster won't help at all, as you'll use the performance to do more work anyway.

    Higher TDP spec chips tend to have overall more aggressive clock ramps so that'll contribute to using more power.
    Reply
  • GetSmart
    More about Razer Blade Stealth in Intel's IFA 2019 presentation (PDF). Also includes game settings
    Reply
  • Giroro
    DavidC1 said:
    Laptops already switch TDP depending on what you do. Convertibles switch between cTDPdown and Nominal when you switch from Tablet/Laptop mode. Nothing is special about this Razer.

    I'm not arguing why a PC that changes configuration might need to adjust it's thermal load, for example removing your machine from a dock might remove part of the cooling solution, and the device might be otherwise too hot to hold in your hands if the CPU reaches the point of thermal throttling.

    But TDP is a measurement of heat dissipation not efficiency of the CPU itself or even performance/clock rate (although they are usually closely correlated). It doesn't change the amount of work that needs to be done. If a video runs fine in 15W mode because it has low CPU requirements, the computer is going to downclock to the same level in 25W mode so there isn't going to be any difference in efficiency or performance.

    The more I think about it, the best uses I can think of are "You are setting your computer up to run a workload before bed, and but the fans are annoying. So you don't care if it takes 5 hours instead of 3 to complete, you just want it quiet".
    Or maybe the amount of power used by the fans is enough that, even though the computer is active and working for longer, you come out ahead by spinning the fans less.
    Reply
  • GetSmart
    Found a video from IFA 2019 featuring both Razer Blade Stealth Mercury White Edition and that reference laptop with AMD Ryzen 7 3700U running Halo Reach.
    vBPQwYd-JuM:163
    Reply
  • DavidC1
    Giroro said:
    It doesn't change the amount of work that needs to be done. If a video runs fine in 15W mode because it has low CPU requirements, the computer is going to downclock to the same level in 25W mode so there isn't going to be any difference in efficiency or performance.

    Actually, if your load is demanding enough, yes it will directly impact your battery life.

    And usually in those workloads, you can't just translate faster = finishing faster. If you are gaming for example, you won't stop gaming 30% earlier because its that much faster. You'll just play at better performance for the same amount of time.

    And there are plenty of workloads that are in between. The only time where TDP doesn't factor in battery life is where its bursty enough that it can idle most of the time. And even that demand is increasing with people running more windows and tabs at the same time and with ever increasing demands brought on by the browsers and the websites themselves.
    Reply