Intel
®
E8500/E8501 Chipset North Bridge (NB) and eXternal Memory 23
Bridge (XMB) Thermal/Mechanical Design Guide
6 NB Reference Thermal Solution #1
Intel has developed two different reference thermal solutions designed to meet the cooling needs of
the E8500/E8501 chipset NB component under operating environments and specifications defined
in this document. This chapter describes the overall requirements for the 1
st
NB reference thermal
solution including critical-to-function dimensions, operating environment, and validation criteria.
Other chipset components may or may not need attached thermal solutions, depending on your
specific system local-ambient operating conditions. For information on the Intel
®
6700PXH 64-bit
PCI Hub, refer to thermal specification in the Intel
®
6700PXH 64-bit PCI Hub
Thermal/Mechanical Design Guide. For information on the ICH5, refer to thermal specification in
the Intel
®
82801EB I/O Controller Hub 5 (ICH5) and Intel
®
82801ER I/O Controller Hub 5 R
(ICH5R) Thermal Design Guide.
6.1 Operating Environment
The reference thermal solution was designed assuming a maximum local-ambient temperature of
52°C. The minimum recommended airflow velocity through the cross section of the heatsink fins is
400 linear feet per minute (lfm). The approaching airflow temperature is assumed to be equal to the
local-ambient temperature. The thermal designer must carefully select the location to measure
airflow to obtain an accurate estimate. These local-ambient conditions are based on a 35°C
external-ambient temperature at sea level. (External-ambient refers to the environment external to
the system.)
The fasteners associated for this reference thermal solution is intended to be used on 0.062”
thickness motherboard
6.2 Heatsink Performance
Figure 6-1 depicts the measured thermal performance of the 1
st
NB reference thermal solution
versus approach air velocity. Since this data was measured at sea level, a correction factor would be
required to estimate thermal performance at other altitudes.