Guide

Processor Thermal/Mechanical Information

Thermal and Mechanical Design Guidelines 19

Figure 2-2. Processor Case Temperature Measurement Location

37.5 mm

Measure T

at this point

(geometric center of the package)

37.5 mm

Measure T

at this point

(geometric center of the package)

2.2.2 Thermal Profile

The Thermal Profile defines the maximum case temperature as a function of processor

power dissipation. The TDP and Maximum Case Temperature are defined as the

maximum values of the thermal profile. By design the thermal solutions must meet

the thermal profile for all system operating conditions and processor power levels.

Refer to the processor datasheet for further information.

While the thermal profile provides flexibility for ATX /BTX thermal design based on its

intended target thermal environment, thermal solutions that are intended to function

in a multitude of systems and environments need to be designed for the worst-case

thermal environment. The majority of ATX /BTX platforms are targeted to function in

an environment that will have up to a 35 °C ambient temperature external to the

system.

Note: For ATX platforms, an active air-cooled design, assumed be used in ATX Chassis, with

a fan installed at the top of the heatsink equivalent to the reference design (see

Chapter 6) should be designed to manage the processor TDP at an inlet temperature

of 35 °C + 5 °C = 40 °C.

For BTX platforms, a front-to-back cooling design equivalent to Intel BTX TMA Type II

reference design (see the Chapter 5) should be designed to manage the processor TDP

at an inlet temperature of 35 °C + 0.5 °C = 35.5 °C.

The slope of the thermal profile was established assuming a generational

improvement in thermal solution performance of the reference design. For an example

of Intel

Core

™

2 Duo processor with 4 MB cache at Tc-max of 60.1 °C in ATX

platform, its improvement is about 16% over the Intel reference design (D60188-

001). This performance is expressed as the slope on the thermal profile and can be

thought of as the thermal resistance of the heatsink attached to the processor,

(Refer to