Intel this week recalled one of its boxed processors because the bundled cooling system the company supplied has been found to be insufficient for fully cooling the CPU. For any Intel partners with stock, this specific chip is being recalled, with Intel suggesting a chip-only tray/OEM version as a replacement.

The processor in question is the boxed quad-core Xeon E-2274G (Coffee Lake), which has an official TDP rating of 83 W. The boxed CPU was supplied with Intel’s DHA-A heatsink (PN: E97378-003), which apparently cannot cool the chip well enough to meet Intel's own requirements. As a result, Intel is recalling the boxed chip. Curiously, Intel has used their DHA-A cooler with chips up to 84W since at least 2013, which makes the whole recall rather bizarre.

Intel’s distributors are advised to return existing inventory of the boxed Xeon E-2274G product and get a tray version instead. It is unclear whether Intel intends to release a new boxed version of its Xeon E-2274G processor with a new cooler, but for now the company recommends to use tray version of the chip with a proper third-party cooling device.

UPDATE 11/18: A source with knowledge of the matter told us that as many as 50 Xeon E-2274G processors were shipped with a 'wrong' cooler, which made Intel recall the whole batch.

UPDATE 11/22: Intel's official statement on the matter reads as follows:

"Intel has identified that the very small quantity of Boxed Intel Xeon E-2274G Processor product shipped with an incorrect thermal solution. This solution may impact system performance due to processor throttling. This issue only applies to the Boxed Intel Xeon E-2274G Processor product. This is not an issue with the processor itself. This does not impact tray versions of the same processor number that do not include a thermal solution."

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Source: Intel
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  • Qasar - Sunday, November 17, 2019 - link

    and EVERYTHING you post, proves you are just a troll, and just a child, point is ?
  • brantron - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link

    Before the conspiracy theories about fake TDPs get out of hand:

    1) E-2274G = 4 GHz quad-core w/ HT, like 6700K or 7700K.
    2) i3 8350K rarely hits 40 watts, torture test might do 50 - 60.
    3) 22xx Xeons are 2 years more recent, typically lower voltage.
    4) No recall for the 6 core E-2276G with the same cooler...
    5) 65w 6+ core CPUs run 4+ GHz fine with Intel's stock coolers.

    The thin aluminum stock cooler does still suck, though. AMD's equivalent is better. If you want to REEEE about something, there you go.
  • Dragonstongue - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link

    pretty bad when the maker in this case Intel effectively KNOWS it cannot properly cool the cpu in question, i.e TDP 84w with cooler designed for such, likely means it (the cpu) does NOT stay within that TDP envelope and/or the cooler certainly cannot.

    For a "premium vendor" as everyone more often that not "waves the flag" saying Intel or nothing mantra....egg on their face huh (not once, not twice but many many times over)

    good they are recalling I suppose, terribad for end user (consumer / big purchasers) to have to or not (lose warranty if not) send back?

    Even far more odd considering it is Xeon class.

    maybe they should reach out to OEM makers for something they know for sure will keep within operating spec instead of going about "all on their own"

    I ran my trust old E8400 with stock cooler (even overclocked) for a LONG time before i bothered to go aftermarket wise..me thinks they probably should invest $$$$$ to assure this does NOT take place again...tis Intel, who knows

    ROFL
  • Samus - Friday, November 15, 2019 - link

    I have chucked every Intel cooler I've ever had, except maybe the Nehalem i7-920 cooler which was like 2lbs and had a huge copper slug in the center...only used it briefly though as I eventually overclocked that chip.

    I think by now everyone knows Intel coolers are a joke. Almost every chip will eventually throttle with its bundled cooler.
  • edzieba - Friday, November 15, 2019 - link

    Whole we have the usual suspects bleating over the inane conspiracy du-jour: This sounds far less like an IC issue, and far more likely HSF issue. DHA-A should be able to handle 83W just fine, but it's hardly a spring chicken in terms of design. Thermal compound degradation, malformed components (the heatsink is made up of friction-fit components, if one of these was out of tolerance then that affects thermal performance) etc. The bundled heatsink is rarely pushed to the rated performance, so batch issues can easily have slipped under the radar.
  • eastcoast_pete - Saturday, November 16, 2019 - link

    Whatever happened to engineering know-how at Intel? Testing a cooler to make sure it works properly for the CPU it's bundled with shouldn't be a problem for a company that use to pride itself as the technology leader in this space. And, why this is a particularly embarrassing problem here: people buy Xeon CPUs because they are expected to keep performing just fine at or near 100% their specified TDP year-in, year-out. That's why many XEONs and similar chips from AMD (EPYC, or other professional lines) are usually clocked a bit more conservative, and also priced higher than their consumer counterparts. So, Intel shipping garbage bundled coolers is really egg on their face, and was utterly avoidable. That company has problems, not just with getting 10 nm fabs going.

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