
Thermal Considerations
EPM-31 Hardware Reference Manual
69
CPU
T
HERMAL
T
RIP
P
OINTS
The CPU cores in the BayCat have their own thermal sensors. Coupled with these sensors are
specific reactions to four thermal trip points. Table 22 describes the four thermal trip points.
Table 22: CPU Thermal Trip Points
Trip Point
Description
Active (Note 1)
The fan is turned on when this temperature is reached
Passive (Note 2)
At this temperature, the CPU cores throttle back to a lower speed. This
reduces the power draw and the temperature.
Critical (Note 3)
At this temperature, the operating system typically puts the board into a
sleep or other low-power state.
Maximum core temperature
The CPU turns itself off when this temperature is reached. This is a fixed
trip point and cannot be adjusted.
Notes:
1. The default value in the BIOS Setup program for this trip point is 55 ºC.
2. The default value in the BIOS Setup program for this trip point is 105 ºC.
3. The default value in the BIOS Setup program for this trip point is 110 ºC.
These trip points allow maximum CPU operational performance while maintaining the lowest
CPU temperature possible. The long-term reliability of any electronic component is degraded
when it is continually run near its maximum thermal limit. Ideally, the CPU core temperatures
would be kept well below 100 ºC with only brief excursions above.
CPU temperature monitoring programs are available to run under both Windows and Linux.
Table 23 lists some of these hardware monitoring programs.
Table 23: Temperature Monitoring Programs
Operating System
Program Type
Description
Windows
Core Temperature
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
Hardware Monitor
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
Open Hardware Monitor
http://openhardwaremonitor.org/
Linux
lm-sensors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lm_sensors