CP605
System Considerations
ID 25095, Rev. 07
© 2004 Kontron Modular Computers GmbH
Page 6 - 5
2509
5.07.UG.VC.041005/14244
8
6.1.1.4
Thermal Management Recommendations
If the CP605 is operated in a properly configured CompactPCI environment with enough air
flow, there is no need to enable the Thermal Management function. However, sometimes the
system environment is not optimized for a Pentium 4 processor board and this requires thermal
protection to guarantee a stable system. The Thermal Management feature allows system de-
signers to design lower cost thermal solutions without compromising system integrity or reliabil-
ity.
In this case both the internal and the external Thermal Monitor should be enabled. These two
monitors protect the processor and the system against excessive temperatures. In this config-
uration the clocks will be switched on and off. At a 50% duty cycle, for example, the average
power dissipation can drop by up to 50%. In this case, the processor performance also drops
by about 50% since program execution halts when the clocks are removed.
6.1.2
Active Thermal Regulation
The thermal management concept of the CP605 also encompasses active thermal regulation.
For both processor types, specifically designed heat sinks are employed to ensure the best
possible basis for operational stability and long term reliability. Coupled together with system
chassis which provide variable configurations for forced air flow, controlled active thermal en-
ergy dissipation is guaranteed.
6.1.2.1
Heat Sinks
All versions of the CP605 are fitted with optimally designed heat sinks. Their physical size,
shape, and construction ensures best possible thermal resistance (R
th
) coefficients. In addi-
tion, they are specifically designed to efficiently support forced air flow concepts as found in
modern CompactPCI system chassis.
Even though the CP605 is fitted with an optimally designed heat sink, the thermal energy dis-
sipated by high performance Pentium 4 and Mobile Pentium 4-M processors exceeds the ther-
mal capabilities of the heat sinks except for very low performance applications which still
require the outstanding features offered by these processors. For the higher performance ap-
plications, the CP605 must be operated with forced air flow.
6.1.2.2
Forced Air Flow
When developing applications using the CP605, the system integrator must be aware of the
overall system thermal requirements. System chassis must be provided which satisfy these re-
quirements. As an aid to the system integrator, processor characteristics graphs are provided
for both the Pentium 4 and the Mobile Pentium 4-M processors.
Warning!
For Benchmarks and performance tests all Thermal Management functions
should be disabled, if enabled the results will be erroneous due to the thermal
power reduction.
