Independently controlling passive and active cooling in a computer system

A computer system, comprising:

• a CPU core;
• clock control logic coupled to said CPU and providing a periodic clock signal to said CPU;
• a first temperature response element adjacent to said CPU core;
• a temperature sensor coupled to said first temperature response element, said temperature sensor including a second temperature response element, and said temperature sensor capable of monitoring the temperature of said first and second temperature response elements;
• thermal control logic coupled to said temperature sensor and said clock control logic;
• a fan coupled to said thermal control logic;
• wherein said temperature sensor provides a value indicative of the temperature of said first and second temperature response elements to said thermal control logic and said thermal control logic independently controls the frequency of the clock signal provided to said CPU core and the speed of said fan based on the temperatures of the first and second temperature response elements;
• wherein said temperature sensor includes at least one temperature register in which temperature values indicative of the first and second temperature response elements are stored;
• wherein said thermal control logic includes a controller that reads the temperature values from the temperature register;
• a fan controller coupled between said controller and said fan and said controller provides a signal to the fan controller indicative of the desired speed of the fan;
• wherein said CPU core provides temperature threshold values to said controller, said temperature threshold values define at least one temperature range;
• and
• main memory coupled to the CPU core in which first and second temperature control tables are stored, each of said tables defining an operating characteristic of the computer system as a function of temperature;
• wherein the first temperature control table specifies the level of CPU throttling in relation to the temperature of the first temperature response element.

A computer system, comprising:

• a CPU core;
• clock control logic coupled to said CPU and providing a periodic clock signal to said CPU;
• a first temperature response element adjacent to said CPU core;
• a temperature sensor coupled to said first temperature response element, said temperature sensor including a second temperature response element, and said temperature sensor capable of monitoring the temperature of said first and second temperature response elements;
• thermal control logic coupled to said temperature sensor and said clock control logic;
• and
• a fan coupled to said thermal control logic;
• wherein said temperature sensor provides a value indicative of the temperature of said first and second temperature response elements to said thermal control logic and said thermal control logic independently controls the frequency of the clock signal provided to said CPU core and the speed of said fan based on the temperatures of the first and second temperature response elements;
• and
• wherein said thermal control logic includes hysteresis in controlling the fan speed.

A method for controlling the temperature of a computer system, comprising:

• monitoring the temperatures at two locations within a CPU;
• comparing the temperatures at the two locations to predetermined temperature ranges, each temperature range associated with the temperature at one of said two locations;
• independently controlling the speed of a fan or the frequency of a CPU clock signal based on the temperatures at the two locations;
• wherein the two locations include a CPU die and an area in an outer region of the CPU;
• and
• storing first and second control tables in memory, the first control table used to control fan speed as a function of the temperature of the outer region of the CPU and the second control used to control CPU clock signal frequency as a function of the temperature of the CPU die.

A thermal control system for a computer, comprising:

• a CPU including:
• a CPU core fabricated on a semiconductor die packaged within said CPU;
• a temperature sensor located in an exterior region of said CPU;
• a first temperature response element thermally coupled to the semiconductor die and coupled to said temperature sensor;
• and
• a second temperature response included as part of the temperature sensor;
• wherein said temperature sensor monitors the temperatures detected by the first and second temperature response elements and stores temperature values indicative of the detected temperatures in at least one register;
• a clock control logic coupled to said CPU core and providing a periodic CPU clock signal to said CPU core, the frequency of the CPU clock signal being adjustable;
• a controller coupled to said CPU via a first bus, said CPU provides the temperature values from said at least one register to said controller via said first bus and said controller compares the temperature values to predetermined temperature ranges and generates a first interrupt signal if one of the temperature ranges is exceeded;
• and
• a fan coupled to said controller.