IBM Intel Xeon E5430 43W3994 Data Sheet

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The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5400 Series requires a thermal solution to 
maintain temperatures within its operating limits. Any attempt to operate the processor 
outside these operating limits may result in permanent damage to the processor and 
potentially other components within the system. As processor technology changes, 
thermal management becomes increasingly crucial when building computer systems. 
Maintaining the proper thermal environment is key to reliable, long-term system 
operation.

A complete solution includes both component and system level thermal management 
features. Component level thermal solutions can include active or passive heatsinks 
attached to the processor integrated heat spreader (IHS). Typical system level thermal 
solutions may consist of system fans combined with ducting and venting.

This section provides data necessary for developing a complete thermal solution. For 
more information on designing a component level thermal solution, refer to the Quad-
Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5400 Series Thermal/Mechanical Design Guidelines 
(TMDG).

The boxed processor will ship with a component thermal solution. Refer to 

for details on the boxed processor.

To allow the optimal operation and long-term reliability of Intel processor-based 
systems, the processor must remain within the minimum and maximum case 
temperature (TCASE) specifications as defined by the applicable thermal profile (see 

 and 

 for the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5482, 

 

 for the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5400 Series, 

 for the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5400 Series, 

 and 

 for the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor L5400 Series and 

 

 for the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor L5408. Thermal solutions 

not designed to provide this level of thermal capability may affect the long-term 
reliability of the processor and system. For more details on thermal solution design, 
please refer to the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5400 Series 
Thermal/Mechanical Design Guidelines (TMDG) or Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 
L5408 Series in Embedded Applications Thermal/Mechanical Design Guidelines (TMDG).

The Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5400 Series implements a methodology for 
managing processor temperatures which is intended to support acoustic noise 
reduction through fan speed control and to assure processor reliability. Selection of the 
appropriate fan speed is based on the relative temperature data reported by the 
processor’s Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI) bus as described in 

. If the value reported via PECI is less than T

CONTROL

, then the case 

temperature is permitted to exceed the Thermal Profile. If the value reported via PECI 
is greater than or equal to T

CONTROL

, then the processor case temperature must remain 

at or below the temperature as specified by the thermal profile. The temperature 
reported over PECI is always a negative value and represents a delta below the onset of 
thermal control circuit (TCC) activation, as indicated by PROCHOT# (see