Method and apparatus for configurable thermal management
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsKetan R. Shah, Tawfik M. Rahal-Arabi, Eric Distefano, James G. Hermerding, II
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Abstract
Embodiments of an apparatus, system and method are described for configurable processor thermal management. An apparatus may comprise, for example, a processor arranged to operate in a plurality of thermal modes comprising a thermal limit down mode, a normal thermal limit mode and a thermal limit up mode, and thermal management logic operative to select a thermal mode based on one or more properties of the apparatus. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Claims32
An apparatus, comprising:
- a processor arranged to operate in a plurality of thermal modes including at least a first mode having a first thermal limit and a second mode having a second thermal limit different than the first thermal limit, the plurality of thermal modes comprising a plurality of different maximum temperature limits for the processor wherein each of the plurality of thermal modes comprises a set of pre-determined operating frequencies and power consumption level for the processor;
- and
- thermal management logic operative to select a thermal mode based on one or more operating parameters.
A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- selecting a thermal mode for a processor arranged to operate in a plurality of thermal modes including at least a first mode having a first thermal limit and a second mode having a second thermal limit different than the first thermal limit, the plurality of thermal modes comprising a plurality of different maximum temperature limits for the processor wherein each of the plurality of thermal modes comprises a set of pre-determined operating frequencies and power consumption level for the processor;
- retrieving configuration information for the selected thermal mode from one or more storage devices;
- and
- operating the processor in the selected thermal mode.
An article comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that if executed by a processor enable a system to:
- select a thermal mode for the processor arranged to operate in a plurality of thermal modes including at least a first mode having a first thermal limit and a second mode having a second thermal limit different than the first thermal limit, the plurality of thermal modes comprising a plurality of different maximum temperature limits for the processor wherein each of the plurality of thermal modes comprises a set of pre-determined operating frequencies and power consumption level for the processor;
- retrieve configuration information for the selected thermal mode from one or more storage devices;
- and
- operate the processor in the selected thermal mode.
A system, comprising:
- a processor arranged to operate in a plurality of thermal modes comprising at least a first mode having a first thermal limit, a second mode having a second thermal limit and a third mode having a third thermal limit, wherein each of the thermal limits are different, the plurality of thermal modes comprising a plurality of different maximum temperature limits for the processor wherein each of the plurality of thermal modes comprises a set of pre-determined operating frequencies and power consumption level for the processor;
- one or more storage devices coupled to the processor and arranged to store configuration information for the plurality of thermal modes;
- thermal management logic operative to select a thermal mode based on one or more properties of the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.