Datasheet

Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300 Series and 9500 Series Datasheet 133
Thermal Specifications
5 Thermal Specifications
This chapter provides the thermal specifications of the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300
Series and the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500 Series processors.
The Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300 Series and the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500
Series processors’ power and thermal management is built from four subsystems or
components. These are power measurement components, the temperature
measurement components, the frequency control components and the voltage control
components that work in concert allowing the management system to maximize
performance within a given power and thermal envelope. This results in higher average
core frequency performance compared to a worst-case fixed frequency. It boosts
performance based on application activity. The power and thermal management
system is fully integrated within the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300 Series and Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500 Series.
The power and thermal management system is designed for repeatable performance
under the same operating conditions. It provides several hooks to the OS and system
management to monitor and change the processor performance and thermal status.
With the power and thermal management system on the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor
9300 Series and Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500 Series, typical applications see a
higher core frequency, resulting in higher performance.
For the Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300 Series and Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500
Series, base frequency is based on an activity factor determined by the highest known
activity factor in benchmark suites. Boost frequency is available when the processor is
not power limited.
The Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500 Series enables Intel
®
Turbo Boost Technology
featuring sustained boost. Processor performance is optimized for a given power
envelope and is integrated into the processor core. Power management optimizes the
processor performance for a given TDP “Thermal Design Power”. The core activity levels
are monitored in real time, and each core enforces its own AFT “Activity Factor
Throttling” to keep the processor at TDP for high activity applications. Instruction
dispersal is lowered in a core to keep the activity of the core within TDP when an over
TDP condition is detected. AFT is transparent to software running on the processor.
5.1 Thermal Features
The Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9300 Series and Intel
®
Itanium
®
Processor 9500 Series
have internal thermal sensors which sense when a certain temperature is reached on
the processor core. These sensors are used to control various thermal states.
Figure 5-1 shows an approximate relationship between temperature, time, and the
THERMALERT, TCONTROL, PROCHOT, THERMWARN, and THERMTRIP points.
Note: Figure 5-1 is not intended to show an exact relationship in time or temperature as a
processor's thermal state advances from one state to the next state. Cooling solution
performance degradation and processor workload variations will affect the processor
thermal state.