Six Dual Xeon Motherboards on the Cheap

Cool Head For 185 W Thermal Power

Xeon processors generally change hands in a "boxed" version and so always come complete with the corresponding cooler. The limited dimensions of the ATX format mean there is often little room for the two Socket 604s. The capacitors or coils are usually too close to the socket, leaving no room on the board for a conventional cooler. You may have to buy another cooler with smaller dimensions, which will also raise the total cost of the system somewhat.

The Coolermaster cooler is too wide for this board

These Coolermaster coolers do not fit on the Asus PP-DLW in ATX format. The capacitors are too close to the socket.

The Intel Boxed Cooler From Prestonia 2M

The new boxed cooler from Intel, which was especially designed for workstation motherboards, is included on processors from the Prestonia 2M series on. Three heat pipes rising vertically from a 6 mm thick copper plate ensure heat is dissipated. They are cooled in a tower (2 ¾" x 2 7/8" / 7 x 7.3 cm) consisting of 53 aluminum disks, which keeps the weight down to a mere 13.4 oz (380 grams). Use of these coolers is only possible in WTX casing, as both are air-cooled by a 4.75" (120 mm) fan. The coolers are fixed in place using retaining clips on the CPU retention modules. Their cooling capacity is excellent and the fan speed can be adjusted via the motherboard to counter unnecessary noise emission.

Intel's boxed cooler

The underside features a copper plate