Three Red-Hot Boxed Cooler Alternatives for the Athlon XP3200+

The Measurement Platform: Temperature Measurement Directly On The Die

We will use the same kind of measurement platform for the test that AMD has used in the past for cooler certification, even though AMD no longer recommends coolers - AMD wants to find buyers for the boxed coolers that are bundled with its chipsets, which are more expensive and represent fewer after-sale service headaches caused by non-boxed cooling systems.

The measuring platform consists of a modified A7V333 motherboard from Asus and a temperature sensor evaluation kit developed by Maxim. The temperature sensor evaluation kit allows the exact die temperature to be read during operation and displayed on the control PC. The board was modified in such a way as to enable the measurement of both voltage and current on the processor during operation.

The new measurement platform enables the precise measurement of both power dissipation and die temperature.

The temperature evaluation sensor kit is located beneath the mainboard.