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Power Architecture at Intel

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It can be a wide range of topics. At a high level architecture it can be the planning for sleep and active sections of the chip. For example, to save power the dynamic memory controller may have available time slots where the clocking of the logic can be suspended. The newest i3,i5,i7 series do a lot of this.

Deep sub-micron high speed CMOS, <45 nm, devices have a high leakage current. To prevent excessive power dissipation on chip, circuit blocks are literally disconnected from the power bus when possible to save power. Obviously when this is done any static register values are lost. There can be a shadow higher Vp (gate threshold voltage) device register which has lower standby current drain but too slow to operate at full clocking speed that saves the high speed register states before section is powered down. Upon wake up, the standby registers are automatically used to return the register states to the high speed registers.

It can be planning and simulation of power grid to various sections of the chip to ensure maximum supply voltage drop to each section is within acceptable limits to ensure logic makes it operating clocking speed. Again for deep sub-micron devices, the power supply voltage can only be a maximum of 1.35 vdc and the logic may not make its required speed if voltage drops below 1.1 vdc so there is a narrow range of supply voltage that must be maintained.
 
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I worked at Intel for a good number of years and retired. What is it, exactly, you wish to know? Is it about microprocessors in that regard or about facilities?
 
Thanks guys.

I wanted to know please, why is it important to design low-power boards (as mother boards) for PCs?

Is there any other reason besides decreasing heat?
 
Do you need another reason? I don't think you realize what a massive roadblock heat is.
 
Could you please elaborate on that?
Is it just for mobiles to be able to be as small as possible?

Because in regular PCs, there's lots of space.
 
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Over time, I am finding you seem to just ask questions and sit there waiting for answers- some of which are rather obvious questions that can be solved with a little Googling and a little common sense thinking. You often don't even ask for confirmations on possible thoughts you might have. You just ask short questions with answers that are often at least somewhat obvious and wait for answers which at the very best comes off as lazy.

So spend some time thinking about why the "lots of space" that is available inside a PC tower might not be very good at cooling a tiny hot transistor surrounded by millions of other tiny hot transistors.
 
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