Pentium 4 Heat

[tlaughrey]

I was reading a thread at another site and the subject of Pentium 4 heat output came up. This is one quote that I saw:

"First off the P4 does not have any cooling problems. Athlons get MUCH hotter then[sic] any P4."

I don't think this is right, but I can't back up my thoughts with any hard numbers. Can anyone enlighten me as to the relative power consumption and heat dissipation of the Athlon and P4? I tried searching the boards here to see if this subject has been covered, but felt like I was looking for a needle in a haystack.

<i>Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.</i>

 

[Copenhagen]

What you have to realize is that it's not only a matter of power-consumption, it's just as much a matter of how the processor gets rid of the heat and ultimately how it deals with too much heat.

The P4 is blessed with a metal heat-speader which also, as an added bonus, physically protects the core. This is something we are likely going to see also on future AMD CPU's. Furthermore the P4 has built-in circuitry/logic that slows down the CPU if the core is in danger of overheating, thus preventing thermal death.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

yes, a pentium4 does put out alot more energy than a comparable athlon, and the XP puts out about 20% less than the tbird athlon.

but as that other guy said, the heat spreader helps, and the actual p4 chip is significantly larger than an athlon, so the thermal output is spread over a greater chip surface area.

go here for all the juicey details.
<A HREF="http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm" target="_new">http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm</A>

of course the p4 has superior thermal protection, plus a mammoth stock heatsink to keep it cool,
but people tend to forget that adequate case cooling becomes increasingly important, otherwise you will get hard drives running too warm and video card lockups. its applies equally to P4's and athlons.

Why do i feel like the lone sane voice in the mental assylum?

 

[tlaughrey]

Thanks for the info, both of you, especially that link. I was aware of the P4's thermal protection capabilities and its heat spreader. I just wanted to know its power dissipation compared to the Athlon.

Another question ... does the P4 have the ability to power down different parts of its core to reduce heat, or is it an all or nothing thing? I've read about the throttling down issue, but I'm wondering if it can "turn off" selected parts of its core, rather than the whole thing. Am I making sense?

<i>Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.</i>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

no..
i guess the thermal throttling is somewhat akin to what u find in intel mobiles with their speedstep technology.
cpu cycles are blocked in order to reduce heat in excessive situations.


Why do i feel like the lone sane voice in the mental assylum?