Dual Core Stress Test: AMD vs. Intel

Previous Log Entries: Boxed Cooler Exchanged

Wednesday, June 8, 2005: After the tension of the last few days and having successively narrowed down the possible sources of errors in the Intel system, we now hope the situation will improve. At about 5:20 a.m. the system restarted and the benchmarks were restarted at around 10 a.m. But in the end a significant error was later identified in the afternoon: the fan of the Intel boxed cooler was running too slowly, allowing the CPU to heat up to 89 degrees Celsius. The cooler was included in Intel's D955X motherboard kit - specially developed for dual-core CPUs. Our measurement software and the Asus tool configured for the board both returned identical temperature readings. Both systems have now been running again problem-free since 7 pm - the AMD system not having shown any problems from the start.

New Intel boxed cooler for dual-core: the copper core is substantially larger than that of the "old" boxed cooler and fan speed increased to 3500 RPM.

Here is another view of the two CPU coolers: on the left the model responsible for the high temperatures and on the right the cooler now in use to provide better cooling. It appears as if Intel itself is still conditioning it, as both versions are included in the motherboard kits.

The differences between Intel's two boxed versions: the cooler on the right is equipped with a more robust copper core.

In order to eliminate any further errors with the Intel system, and to be on the safe side, we replaced the Turbo-Cool 850 SSI power supply with a brand new Enermax EG485AX-VHB with 480 Watt output. Any subsequent potential errors will thus be exclusively attributable to the Intel CPU itself.

Concerning availability on the market, we would note that AMD and Intel were planning to offer their dual-core CPUs starting in June. However, June is already well underway, and there is still no sign of this kind of processor.

Switch-out: the 480 Watt Enermax power supply has now taken up its task.