Retail 955XE fixes thermal issues at a price

Sidney · 8th February 2006, 18:33

You may recall that we had some problems with our Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 setup that caused us to delay our review a bit. The motherboard, CPU, and cooler combo we received from Intel for review didn't always cool the CPU sufficiently under load, leading to thermal throttling. We've now tested a production Intel CPU/motherboard/cooler combo, and we have some good news and some bad news...

Sidney · 8th February 2006, 18:33

Quote:

Under these conditions, this 955XE setup is significantly louder than any other CPU/cooler combo we've tested in the past few years, registering on our decibel meter at 62.6 dB from about one foot away. By contrast, our Athlon 64 X2 4800+ test system weighs in at about 46 dB. That's a big difference in terms of decibels, and our ears confirm it. Yow. This aural performance is somewhat puzzling because the combination of the Extreme Edition 840, Intel D955XBK motherboard, and Intel cooler was both adequate and relatively quiet.

Rutar · 9th February 2006, 14:41

62.6 dba o_O

Intel seriously needs to outsource cooler design

jmke · 9th February 2006, 15:20

not really, they need to seriously look at their thermal design

the reason the system is loud is because of the thermal loss of their CPU, while upgrading CPU cooler will be a remedy, it's far from ideal.

if they attack the core issue (cpu heat) all other things will resolve themselve.

Rutar · 9th February 2006, 17:14

sure, but it's far easier to slap a better cooler with some heatpipes on the CPU right now

8th February 2006, 18:33	#1
Sidney [M] Reviewer Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 16,730	Retail 955XE fixes thermal issues at a price You may recall that we had some problems with our Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955 setup that caused us to delay our review a bit. The motherboard, CPU, and cooler combo we received from Intel for review didn't always cool the CPU sufficiently under load, leading to thermal throttling. We've now tested a production Intel CPU/motherboard/cooler combo, and we have some good news and some bad news... __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

9th February 2006, 15:20	#4
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 82,497	not really, they need to seriously look at their thermal design the reason the system is loud is because of the thermal loss of their CPU, while upgrading CPU cooler will be a remedy, it's far from ideal. if they attack the core issue (cpu heat) all other things will resolve themselve. __________________

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9th February 2006, 14:41	#3
Rutar Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,267	62.6 dba o_O Intel seriously needs to outsource cooler design

9th February 2006, 17:14	#5
Rutar Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,267	sure, but it's far easier to slap a better cooler with some heatpipes on the CPU right now