I think Power Performance calculations are wrong!

[LordVoldo]

It seems that Power Performance chart number are based on wrong calculation. for example the average score of 13700 for Intel Core i7-1260U is not achieved on 9 watts TDP, and in fact 9 watts is not typical TDP for 1260U as intel indicate. because this cpu normally boost way over 9 watts. so i think passmark software should measure cpu power usage and report a realistic power consumption figure to calculate real Power to Performance ratio.

[David (PassMark)]

It is true the TDP figures aren't very meaningful anymore. They are just a rough indication of the class of CPU. Years ago, you could trust these numbers. Not anymore. It is nearly impossible to measure actual power usage of just the CPU for all CPU models. There are several problems. Including.

1. There are currently 5046 different CPU models we are tracking. We don't own an example of each one. Plus several hundred new CPU models are released each year. Some of these are extremely expensive as well. Over $10,000 per CPU at the high end. A single high end machine (with RAM, motherboard, etc..) might be $20K.
2. CPUs draw power from both the motherboard and the dedicated CPU power rail. There is no simple measurement option to separate the CPU power from the total motherboard power. Overall power for the entire machine is easy to measure. CPU only power is hard.
3. Some laptop CPUs are soldered down and in a case that isn't designed to be opened. So hard to get probes into the motherboard. Some CPUs / motherboard do measure and report on their own power usage, but it is far from universal.
4. Many laptop CPUs are tuned by the vendors via BIOS settings. So a Dell machine and Lenovo machine might have different power usage (for the same CPU) depending on how aggressive the vendor wants to be (how much they trade off battery life).
5. Modern CPUs have temperature and power limits. So a CPU/machine with good cooling will run at a higher clock speed an use more power, than one hitting thermal limits.
6. There is no such thing as "average" power usage. Different people use PCs in different ways. People also have different power settings in Windows. Power usage will also depend on if a laptop is connected to mains power or battery power.