Intel Desktop Boards

System Cooling Requirements
Systems that contain Intel® Pentium® 4 processors operating at 3 GHz or higher require a heatsink and chassis that provide airflow adequate to ensure appropriate internal ambient temperature and cooling of the components in the system.

The fan heatsink must provide appropriate airflow for the processor and nearby board components. The boxed Intel® Pentium® 4 processors at 3 GHz or higher ship with a heatsink that supplies appropriate airflow for the processor and nearby board components.

Failure to use a fan heatsink and a chassis with appropriate airflow may result in reduced performance or, in some instances, damage to the motherboard.

Avoid Undersized Power Supplies
Total system power consumption is dependent upon the system configuration, including add-in boards, peripherals, memory, and the Intel® processor powered by the system's power supply.

Instances of using undersized power supplies have resulted in add-in boards and peripherals that do not function properly, and includes the device drivers used for those add-in boards and peripherals. This information is provided only as a guide. Calculating approximate power usage of the system is important to ensure that the power supply meets the system's consumption requirements.

Use the correct power supply to avoid "no boot" situation or lock-up.
An ATX12V or SFX12V with the 2x2 connector is required for all Pentium® 4 processor based Intel® Desktop Boards. Power consumption requirements for high-end video cards, sound cards, peripherals, and the Pentium 4 processor will exceed the typical 5A current capacity of standard ATX & SPX power supplies.

The ATX12V and SFX12V† power supply design guides recommend a minimum of 8A at 12Volts to properly power any Pentium 4 processor based Intel Desktop Board. Standard ATX and SFX power supplies typically provide approximately 5A of current, which is not capable of reliably powering the Pentium 4 processor based Intel Desktop Board.

† For more information: http://www.formfactors.org/

Intel Thermal Zone Information
Intel's hardware monitoring software (Intel® Active Monitor or Intel® Desktop Utilities) monitors system temperature in up to three locations on the desktop board:

• Processor Zone: monitors the processor; the thermal diode is on the processor itself.
• Zone 1: monitors the area around the hardware monitoring ASIC (near the processor socket).
• Zone 2: monitors the area around an additional remote sensor; this location is dependent on board model.

IMPORTANT
The processor and system zone temperature sensors are designed to provide you with approximate temperatures so that unusually high temperatures can be quickly and easily detected. Because the temperature measurements are approximate, they should not be used to validate thermal solutions. The temperatures that Intel® Active Monitor or Intel® Desktop Utilities displays are read from the desktop board's hardware monitor ASIC, which is designed to indicate temperature trends only. All responsibility for determining the adequacy of any thermal or system design remains solely with the customer. Intel makes no warranties or representations that merely following the instructions presented in this document or the Technical Product Specification (TPS) will result in a system with adequate thermal performance.

Each board's TPS contains information about the maximum temperatures allowed in each thermal zone.

To locate the TPS for your board:
1. Go to the Desktop Board Main Index.
2. Select your board.
3. Click the link in the left navigation menu to Product Documentation.

Hardware monitoring software, such as Intel® Active Monitor or Intel® Desktop Utilities are designed to alert you when temperatures exceed certain thresholds.

High Temperature Alerts
If Intel® Active Monitor or Intel® Desktop Utilities alerts you about temperatures above set thresholds, there are a number of steps you can take.

Check for proper airflow:

• Make sure the processor and chassis fans are running.
• Check the cabling; make sure cables are not interfering with proper airflow through the chassis.
• Check that nothing is blocking airflow into and out of the chassis' airflow vents.
• Make sure that the air intakes for the external fans are unobstructed and are located at least several inches away from walls and other items.
• Make sure that the power supply fan is running properly and any other external case fans are running properly.
• Consider adding another chassis fan.

Other troubleshooting steps:

• If your PC uses an Intel® Pentium® 4 processor in the LGA775 package, be sure the heatsink is properly installed and 'locked'. Pay particular attention to the proper orientation of the locking pins and give a good push down on the pins (sounds like a double click) to lock them into place. For complete processor and heatsink integration information, refer to Boxed Processor Installation.
• Verify the chassis/case and power supply are appropriate for the processor model and frequency and the motherboard you are using.
• Verify the thermal solution for the processor is adequate for the processor and frequency of the processor.
• Make sure the processor fan cable is connected to the correct fan header (specifically for the processor). Refer to your motherboard documentation for more information.
• Make sure that the thermal interface material or the thermal grease is applied to the processor properly.
• Update the system BIOS to the newest version. This will often correct problems with how the system measures temperature.

Setting Temperature Thresholds in Intel® Active Monitor or Intel® Desktop Utilities
By default, the temperature thresholds in the hardware monitoring software are set as follows:

If you've checked for proper airflow and performed the other troubleshooting steps listed above and you still consistently receive high temperature alerts in Zone 1 or Zone 2:

• If you are using Intel® Active Monitor, you may increase the temperature threshold. You can safely increase the Zone 1 or Zone 2 threshold up to 60 Degrees Celsius (140 Degrees Fahrenheit).
• If you are using Intel® Desktop Utilities version 2.0.11.46 or earlier, upgrade the software to the latest version, which sets the Zone 1 and 2 thresholds to 65°C.
• It is not recommended that you increase the Processor Zone threshold.
  

3-pin and 4-pin Fan Connectors
Chassis and CPU fans may use either 3-pin or 4-pin power connectors. 3-pin connectors are usually used for the smaller chassis fans with lower power consumption. 4-pin connectors are usually used by CPU fans with higher power consumption.

Fans and on-board fan headers are backwards compatible. Proper fan connector placement is shown in the figures below.

Fan has a 3-pin power connector; desktop board has a 4-pin fan header:

Note: when using a 3-pin power connector with a 4-pin fan header, the fan will always be on; there is no fan control.

Fan has a 4-pin power connector; desktop board has a 3-pin fan header:

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