scott wrote:
> 
> I thought all modern CPUs had the sensor actually on the CPU die,
> presumably in an intelligent place to best detect when the CPU was
> getting too hot. Maybe I'm wrong on that though, I know in the old days
> the sensor was on the motherboard, so you'd get huge variations from PC
> to PC, even with the same case and CPU.
> 

Yes, at least it's on the CPU itself nowadays, I dunno the exact
location of the sensor of each chip. But especially with multiplying
cores, increasing caches etc the heat generation might be unbalanced
(eg. 1 core runs at 100%, other one idles), which makes the sensor
unbalanced (no matter where it actually is), resulting in a point that
has more heat than at the sensor, so the tolerances need to be higher. 1
core of dual-core processor ain't enough to fire up the proc when the
fan is running, but if the fan is controlled by a sensor not right
beside that particular core, there needs to be more tolerance for the
heat (eg. the core is 90°C, the sensor says 70°C and the fan checks
"ooh, 70, I'd better get running" instead of waiting for the 90).

This is all just my thinking, not scientifically proven, but I think
Intel has given a moment to think the throttling temperatures :).

-Aero

Post a reply to this message