
Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 3000 Series Datasheet
81
Thermal Specifications and Design Considerations
5.3
Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI)
5.3.1
Introduction
The release of the processor marks the transition from a thermal diode to digital
thermal sensors (DTS) for fan speed control. DTS are on-die, analog-to-digital
temperature converters calibrated at the factory for reasonable accuracy to provide a
digital representation of relative processor temperature. Data from the DTS are
processed and stored in a processor register which is queried through the Platform
Environment Control Interface (PECI). PECI is a proprietary one-wire bus interface that
provides a communication channel between the processor and chipset components to
external monitoring devices. The PECI bus offers:
A wide speed range from 2 Kbps to 2 Mbps
CRC check byte used to efficiently and automatically confirm accurate data delivery
Synchronization at the beginning of every message minimizes device timing
accuracy requirements
The Platform Environment Control Interface (PECI) bus uses a single wire for self-
clocking and data transfer, and requires no additional control lines. The physical layer is
a self-clocked one-wire bus that begins each bit with a driven, rising edge from an idle
level near zero volts. The duration of the signal driven high depends on whether the bit
value is a logic 0 or logic 1. PECI also includes variable data transfer rate established
with every message. The single wire interface provides low board routing overhead for
the multiple load connections in the congested routing area near the processor and
chipset components. Bus speed, error checking, and low protocol overhead provides
adequate link bandwidth and reliability to transfer critical device operating conditions
and configuration information.
5.3.1.1
Key Difference with Legacy Diode-Based Thermal Management
Fan speed control solutions use a value stored in the static variable, TCONTROL. In
previous processors, TCONTROL stored a temperature value that was compared to the
thermal diode. With the new DTS, TCONTROL temperature data is delivered over PECI in
response to a GetTemp0() command and is a relative value versus an absolute value.
The temperature reported over PECI is always a negative value and represents a delta
below the onset of thermal control circuit (TCC) activation, as indicated by PROCHOT#.
Therefore, as the temperature approaches TCC activation, the value approaches zero
degrees Celsius. At zero degrees, the TCC activates as described in
Section 5.2. A data
While the TCONTROL value for PECI based digital temperature data is different than
legacy, it will use the same processor register, and it will still be necessary for thermal
management algorithms to use this new relative temperature format delivered over
PECI to control fans or other temperature control methods.