A method is provided for allocating power to compute units based on energy efficiency. Some embodiments of the method include allocating portions of a power budget of a system-on-a-chip (SOC) to a plurality of compute units implemented on the SOC based on ratios of a performance level for each compute unit to a power consumed by the compute unit operating at the performance level. An SOC is provided that includes a plurality of compute units and a power management controller to allocate portions of a power budget of the SOC to the plurality of compute units based on ratios of a performance level for each compute unit to a power consumed by the compute unit operating at the performance level.