Patent ID: 7937599

Claim:
An apparatus for thermally managing temperature of a microprocessor provided within a computer system, the microprocessor operates in accordance with a clock having a clock frequency, the computer system including a fan controllably operable to cool at least a portion of the computer system, said apparatus comprising: a first electrical connection to a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor being provided within the microprocessor; a comparison circuit configured to compare a temperature indication provided at least in part by the temperature sensor via said first electrical connection with at least one of a plurality of temperature values to produce comparison data; and a second electrical connection configured to provide the comparison data for managing the temperature of the microprocessor based at least in part on the temperature indication provided at least in part by the temperature sensor, wherein the at least one of the plurality of temperature values to be utilized by the comparison circuit differs depending on an operational mode, wherein in one operational mode the fan is activated when needed to maintain high processing power, and wherein in another operational mode the fan is activated when necessary to maintain reasonable processing power, which is lower than the high processing power.