Guidelines
Intel
®
7500 Chipset Thermal Mechanical Design Guide 7
Introduction
1 Introduction
The goals of this document are to:
• Outline the thermal and mechanical operating limits and specifications for the
Intel
®
7500 chipset.
• Describe reference thermal solutions that meet the specifications of the Intel 7500
chipset.
Properly designed thermal solutions provide adequate cooling to maintain the Intel
7500 chipset case temperatures at or below thermal specifications. This is
accomplished by providing a low local-ambient temperature, ensuring adequate local
airflow, and minimizing the case to local-ambient thermal resistance. By maintaining
the Intel 7500 chipset case temperature at or below the specified limits, a system
designer can ensure the proper functionality, performance, and reliability of the IOH.
Operation outside the functional limits can cause data corruption or permanent damage
to the component.
The simplest and most cost-effective method to improve the inherent system cooling
characteristics is through careful chassis design and placement of fans, vents, and
ducts. When additional cooling is required, component thermal solutions may be
implemented in conjunction with system thermal solutions. The size of the fan or
heatsink can be varied to balance size and space constraints with acoustic noise.
This document addresses thermal design and specifications for the Intel 7500 chipset
component only. For thermal design information on other chipset components, refer to
the respective component TMDG.
Unless otherwise specified, the term “IOH” refers to the Intel® 7500 chipset.
1.1 Design Flow
To develop a reliable, cost-effective thermal solution, several tools have been provided
to the system designer. Figure 1-1 illustrates the design process implicit to this
document and the tools appropriate for each step.
Figure 1-1. Thermal Design Process
T herm al M o d el
T herm al M o d el U s e r's G uide
S te p 1: T he rm al
S im ula tion
T herm al Re ference
M e c h a n ical R e ferenc e
S te p 2: H e a ts ink S ele ctio n
T herm al T es ting So ftware
S o ftw a re U se r's G uid e
S tep 3: T h e rm a l V alidatio n