Intel Xeon processor LV Thermal Design Guide

Thermal Metrology
Dual-Core Intel
®
Xeon
®
processor LV and ULV
Thermal Design Guide August 2006
32 Reference Number: 311374-002
7.0 Thermal Metrology
The system designer must make measurements to accurately determine the
performance of the thermal solution. The heatsink designs must be validated using a
thermal test vehicle. The thermal test vehicle is a device that simulates the thermal
characteristics of the processor. It is also recommended to perform a final verification
test of the heatsink with an actual processor in a real working environment.
This section provides guidelines on techniques to perform thermal tests including;
Section 7.2 provides guidelines on how to accurately measure the component
temperature, Section 7.3 details the use of the thermal test vehicle, and Section 7.3
provides information on running a power simulation software that will emulate
anticipated thermal design powers on an actual processor.
7.1 Heatsink Validation Using Thermal Test Vehicles
Contact your Intel representative for more information about the thermal test vehicle.
7.2 Die Temperature Measurements
The component T
JUNCTION
must be maintained at or below the maximum temperature
specification as noted in Figure 6. The best method to measure the die temperature is
using the Digital Thermal Sensor as described in the processor's datasheet. Note that
the Digital Thermal Sensor can only be read through a Model Specific Register (MSR) of
the processor.
Note: The legacy on board thermal diode is not recommended for performing heatsink
validation. The thermal diode is suitable for long term trending data, but is not an
accurate indicator of the processor's temperature.
7.3 Power Simulation Software
The power simulation software is a utility designed to dissipate the thermal design
power on a processor. To assess the thermal performance of the processor thermal
solution under “worst-case realistic application” conditions, Intel has developed a
software utility that operates the processor at near worst-case power dissipation.
The power simulation software being developed should only be used to test customer
thermal solutions at or near the thermal design power. For power supply current,
please refer to each component's datasheet for the I
CC
(Max Power Supply Current)
specification. Contact your Intel representative for more information.
7.4 Additional Thermal Features
The Dual-Core Intel
®
Xeon
®
processor LV and ULV supports other thermal features
including the Intel
®
Thermal Monitor, PROCHOT#, FORCEPR#, and THERMTRIP# Signal
Pins. Details for using these features are contained in the processor datasheet.