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Die shrink usually means lower power consumption which, in turn, means lower thermal dissipation. Working currents are usually given as Icc (processor current) in Ampere while the thermal power is given in Watt.

Judging from these figures, the overall power draw of the core has decreased on a clock by clock basis (XP2100 Palomino: 36.7 / 41.1A) The same goes for the thermal power dissipation (64.3W / 72.0). The differences are not big though and considering that the die size and, therefore, the surface area have descreased by 33 %, we can expect that the Thoroughbreds are going to be running quite hot for the simple reason that it is even more difficult to move the heat away from the core.

Taisol CGK760172
Copper bottom and aluminum fins make this cooler a reasonable and quiet solution for the Palomino and Thorougbred.

Counteracting The Heat

The best medicine against heat is good cooling after all. What we got from AMD, along with the Thoroughbred and a Gigabyte GA-7VRX mainboard was this Taisol heatsink/fan which clearly shows that thermal issues still need to be taken seriously. We didn't use the Gigabyte board this time but we will have more on it shortly.

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