Heat output RE: cpus

[dangerous_squid]

What factors determine how much heat a cpu will output in relation to a cpu of the same socket?

For example, will a 165 OCed to 2.6 run as hot as an FX-60 at 2.6? Why would it require more cooling to run stable? Is it due to the HTT/multi ratio in any way?

[largon]

heat output = operating current * voltage

Both current and voltage vary between cpu load and idle states. Normally voltage and current (= power output) depends of available thermal management functions of the cpu: clock throttling, voltage management, core section shutdown, software switches (HLT command), etc.

But post-E-revision AMD cpus have one more variable: Variable TDP...

...meaning the electrical current the core consumes depends of the fab process configurations, silicon wafer material, transistor type, etc. = 5-letter code (aka. stepping), date, the "3rd row"-code, ?, etc.
Transistor current consumption also dictates it's switching speed, thus cpus with higher variable TDP rating are likely to scale higher thanks to higher current consumption.

->
If we compare an Opteron 165 @ 2.6GHz and a stock FX-60 (vcore = x.yz) they are likely to consume and dissipate different amounts of power because of variable TDP - unless the procs happen to be technically identical.