30
2.5
Thermal Considerations
The fundamental design of the Intel® Compute Card relies on the installed device for proper
cooling and due to the wide variety of potential environmental conditions, no specific cooling
design details are provided in this document. The following addresses the primary
considerations for proper cooling of the Compute Card.
Power is dissipated from both faces of the Compute Card, however the bottom surface is in direct
contact with the CPU and as such receives the majority of the total power. Table 11 lists different
power measurements taken on the Compute Card.
Table 11. Power Usage
Type
Full Load
4K Video
4K Streamed Video
Input Power
11.73 W
5.51 W
7.49 W
CPU Package Power
5.95 W
3.78 W
4.56 W
Other Components Power
5.78 W
1.73 W
2.93 W
Direct conductive contact with the Compute Card surfaces will typically provide the best overall
heat dissipation, however it is possible to achieve desirable performance levels with convection
only cooling. With the use of either conductive or convective cooling, skin temperatures must be
taken into consideration. The Compute Card is capable of operating within all critical component
temperature specifications while producing surface skin temperatures that may violate typical
safety guidelines or requirements. Acceptable skin temperature limits vary with intended use
conditions. Reference IEC 60950-1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EQUIPMENT - SAFETY for
guidance.
Surface temperatures based on actual use of the Compute Card shown in Table 12 are
recommended.
Table 12. Skin Temperature Recommendations
Usage
Temperature
The Compute Card can be removed from the device by a user
55
C
The Compute Card is enclosed in a device and cannot be removed by a user
70
C
2.6
Reliability
The Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) prediction is calculated using component and
subassembly random failure rates. The MTBF prediction is used to estimate repair rates and
spare parts requirements. The MTBF for the Intel® Compute Card is 53,708 hours.
