Would someone explain this to me please?

Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited September 2004 in Hardware
Why does the P4/Xeon idle so much cooler than the Athlon?

For example, take the two duallies I have here at school. The 2.8GHz Xeons have a TDP of 77w @ stock; the actual maximum is probably closer to 85-90w.

The 2500s have a maximum heat output of 75w or thereabouts iirc. Now, the Xeons are clocked to 3.2GHz (20x160) @ the default voltage. They have the stock heatsinks with AS5, and the stock fans, which are thermally controlled by the motherboard. They're currently running at about 50% of maximum RPMs. The CPUs are at 82 and 89*F, respectively.

Compare that to the Athlons, which are at a basically stock 1.86GHz (133x14), with Aerocool DP-101 heatsinks and 18cfm 60mm fans. The Athlons are idling at 105*F and 120*F, respectively (although the second CPU may be reading a little high; the K7D seems to read the second cpu 10*F too high or so). So the Athlons have better heatsinks, put out less heat, have better case cooling (by virtue of the fact that the PSU fan in the dual Athlon system is set to run at full speed), a cooler running video card (so case temps should be lower), yet they idle at a higher temperature. Why is that?

Comments

  • JChretienJChretien Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited September 2004
    my overclocked barton 2500+ is at 111F at FULL LOAD.... i dont know why your athlons are idling that high..
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited September 2004
    I have two machines running Barton core XPs. They both fold so they are at 100% load. One runs 96F the other 102F.
    What temps do you get at full load?
    Is is possible that the XPs are not going to idle?
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited September 2004
    Intels do less per cycle. A lot of the heat that Intel CPUs produce is because of the Freq. High Freq needs a lot of current and when its idle it doesnt need full current.
Sign In or Register to comment.