Intel E8200 BX80570E8200A User Manual

Thermal and Mechanical Design Guidelines   

 35 

 

 

PROCHOT# 

Resultant 
internal clock 

Normal clock 

Internal clock 
Duty cycle 
control 

 

The second method of power reduction is TM2. TM2 provides an efficient means of 

reducing the power consumption within the processor and limiting the processor 

temperature. 

When TM2 is enabled, and a high temperature situation is detected, the enhanced TCC 

will be activated. The enhanced TCC causes the processor to adjust its operating 

frequency (by dropping the bus-to-core multiplier to its minimum available value) and 

input voltage identification (VID) value. This combination of reduced frequency and 

VID results in a reduction in processor power consumption. 

A processor enabled for TM2 includes two operating points, each consisting of a 

specific operating frequency and voltage. The first operating point represents the 

normal operating condition for the processor.  

The second operating point consists of both a lower operating frequency and voltage. 

When the TCC is activated, the processor automatically transitions to the new 

frequency. This transition occurs very rapidly (on the order of 5 microseconds). During 

the frequency transition, the processor is unable to service any bus requests, all bus 

traffic is blocked. Edge-triggered interrupts will be latched and kept pending until the 

processor resumes operation at the new frequency. 

Once the new operating frequency is engaged, the processor will transition to the new 

core operating voltage by issuing a new VID code to the voltage regulator. The 

voltage regulator must support VID transitions in order to support TM2. During the 

voltage change, it will be necessary to transition through multiple VID codes to reach 

the target operating voltage. Each step will be one VID table entry (i.e., 12.5 mV 

steps). The processor continues to execute instructions during the voltage transition. 

Operation at the lower voltage reduces the power consumption of the processor, 

providing a temperature reduction.