Conclusion: New Guidelines For Motherboard Manufacturers

So, let's set the record straight: through our video, we revealed the Palomino's major flaw when it is used with modern motherboards. AMD responded to our video and will be setting new guidelines for all motherboard manufacturers. These consist of a modification for all upcoming Socket A motherboards, which are to be integrated with a special electronic switching mechanism to protect the CPU from overheating.

The good news about this solution is that it guarantees that the CPU will survive; the bad news is that data safety is no longer guaranteed. The PC is not shut down properly, and instead it is switched off quite abruptly.

In conclusion: as a result of our findings in the Hot Spot video AMD decided to consider finding a solution to protect its CPUs from overheating and the company wants to bring it to the market. The Hot Spot video helped to create this awareness within AMD so, there may not have been an overheating protection for the Athlon XP/MP processors if the problem had not been brought to light. We were in discussions with AMD on this issue, but feel that the record has to be set straight on what has actually occurred since we did the Hot Spot video so that users are aware of the underlying issues.

Therefore, users should be aware that in the future, they should look for motherboards equipped with this special protective switching mechanism, otherwise, the CPU could still burn up.

Frank.Voelkel@tomshardware.com
Frank Völkel is a technical director at Tom's Hardware Guide and is a proponent of innovative testing methods.