Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 BX80570E7300 User Manual

Thermal and Mechanical Design Guidelines   

 19 

 

 

37.5 mm 

Measure T

C

at this point            

(geometric center of the package)

3

7

.5

 m

m

 

37.5 mm 

Measure T

C

at this point            

(geometric center of the package)

3

7

.5

 m

m

 

 

The Thermal Profile defines the maximum case temperature as a function of processor 

power dissipation. Refer to the datasheet for the further information.  

While the thermal profile provides flexibility for ATX /BTX thermal design based on its 

intended target thermal environment, thermal solutions that are intended to function 

in a multitude of systems and environments need to be designed for the worst-case 

thermal environment. The majority of ATX /BTX platforms are targeted to function in 

an environment that will have up to a 35° C ambient temperature external to the 

system. 

For ATX platforms, an active air-cooled design, assumed be used in ATX Chassis, with 

a fan installed at the top of the heatsink equivalent to the reference design (see 
Chapter 

6) should be designed to manage the processor TDP at an inlet temperature 

of 35° C + 5°C = 40° C.  

For BTX platforms, a front-to-back cooling design equivalent to Intel BTX TMA Type II 
reference design (see the Chapter 

5) should be designed to manage the processor TDP 

at an inlet temperature of 35° C + 0.5° C = 35.5° C.  

The slope of the thermal profile was established assuming a generational 

improvement in thermal solution performance of the Intel reference design. For an 

example of Intel Core™2 Duo Processor E8000 series with 6 MB in ATX platform, its 

improvement is about 15% over the Intel reference design (E18764-001). This 

performance is expressed as the slope on the thermal profile and can be thought of as 

the thermal resistance of the heatsink attached to the processor, 

CA

 (Refer to  

Section 

3.1). The intercept on the thermal profile assumes a maximum ambient 

operating condition that is consistent with the available chassis solutions.