Nvidia RTX 50 series laptops have a TDP disclosure problem – But Nvidia’s working on it
Nvidia’s working with laptop makers to ensure that RTX 50-series TDPs are properly disclosed
Nvidia RTX 50 series laptops are coming, bringing the capabilities of Nvidia’s Blackwell graphics architecture to a new audience. Now, Nvidia are struggling with a common problem. Laptop makers are not properly disclosing the TDP of the GPUs inside their systems.
For gaming laptops, GPU TDPs matter. The more power you can put through a graphics card, the faster it will be. While desktop GPUs can crank TDPs to absurd levels, size/weight restrictions limit the power levels of Nvidia’s laptop GPUs. Depending on your laptop maker’s chosen TDP, your mobile RTX 50 series graphics card can have wildly different performance profiles. An RTX 5090 laptop GPU at 65W will perform very differently than a 165W version.
Computerbase.de has noted that many RTX 50 series laptop manufacturers have not adequately disclosed the TDPs of their GPUs. Some manufacturers reveal these details in their specifications sheets, while others list them elsewhere on their product pages. There are also cases where TDP listing may not be listed at all.
After asking Nvidia for comment, the company confirmed that they are continuing to work with manufacturers to ensure that GPU TDPs are disclosed.
We work with Laptop manufacturers to ensure they list graphics power on their product websites.
These RTX 50-series TDP listing problems are a problem of Nvidia’s making
With its RTX 30 series and newer laptop GPUs, Nvidia dropped their Max-X suffix for gaming laptops with lower-TDP GPUs. These systems focused on power efficiency and operated at lower TDPs to deliver systems with a longer battery life and higher levels of portability. If you bought an Nvidia Max-Q laptop, you knew you were getting less performance than a laptop with an equivalent GPU that wasn’t Max-X. Now, gamers need to check the TDP listings of all laptops.
Without Nvidia’s Max-Q suffix, there is a lot more room for confusion. Now, gamers need to check the TDPs of laptops and know that a GPU’s name alone says little about its overall performance profile. Unlike the desktop PC market, not all laptop RTX 50 series GPUs (with the same model name) perform the same. This makes laptop reviews very important, and accurate GPU TDP listings more important.
You can join the discussion on Nvidia’s RTX 50 series laptops on the OC3D Forums.
