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Introduction
1
Introduction
1.1
Document Goals and Scope
1.1.1
Importance of Thermal Management
The objective of thermal management is to ensure that the temperatures of all
components in a system are maintained within their functional temperature range.
Within this temperature range, a component is expected to meet its specified
performance. Operation outside the functional temperature range can degrade system
performance, cause logic errors or cause component and/or system damage.
Temperatures exceeding the maximum operating limit of a component may result in
irreversible changes in the operating characteristics of this component.
In a system environment, the processor temperature is a function of both system and
component thermal characteristics. The system level thermal constraints consist of the
local ambient air temperature and airflow over the processor as well as the physical
constraints at and above the processor. The processor temperature depends in
particular on the component power dissipation, the processor package thermal
characteristics, and the processor thermal solution.
All of these parameters are affected by the continued push of technology to increase
processor performance levels and packaging density (more transistors). As operating
frequencies increase and packaging size decreases, the power density increases while
the thermal solution space and airflow typically become more constrained or remains
the same within the system. The result is an increased importance on system design
to ensure that thermal design requirements are met for each component, including
the processor, in the system.
1.1.2
Document Goals
Depending on the type of system and the chassis characteristics, new system and
component designs may be required to provide adequate cooling for the processor.
The goal of this document is to provide an understanding of these thermal
characteristics and discuss guidelines for meeting the thermal requirements imposed
on single processor systems using the Intel
series, Intel
Core processor E1000
The concepts given in this document are applicable to any system form factor. Specific
examples used will be the Intel enabled reference solution for ATX/uATX systems. See
the applicable BTX form factor reference documents to design a thermal solution for
that form factor.
Thermal and Mechanical Design Guidelines
®
®
Pentium
Dual Core processor E2000 series, and Intel
Δ
series.
®
™
Core
2 Duo processor E6000 and E4000
®
®
Celeron
Dual-
11
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