Production Flaw Causes Zotac ZBOX to Overheat

The guys over at French publication 01net found something a little odd about their Zotac ZBOX CI540 review unit. While the unit does have a completely fan-less design the Intel Core i5-4210Y dual-core chip inside was idling at around 80°C. Noticing this high temperature the reviewer opened the ZBOX up to reveal that Zotac had left the protective film on the thermal pad, which conducts heat from the CPU to the chassis of the unit. Once the film was removed the temperatures of the CPU dropped, but reaching for that thermal pad actually voids your warranty!

zotac-zbox-thermalpad

While the CI540 is a barebones unit where you install your own 2.5-inch solid state drive, and SO-DIMM memory that does require you to unscrew and open up the body. These elements are on the reverse side of the motherboard. You apparently are not supposed to unscrew the actual motherboard to reveal its front. While there is nothing to upgrade here as the CPU is in the BGA (ball-grid array) package and wired to the motherboard, the screws that let you reveal this side are capped with warranty seals.

We are not sure if the sample 01net received was just a one off or there are a whole batch of CI540’s out there with this problem. Only time will tell. If you do encounter this issue you can fix it easily, but you will void your warranty!

Source: 01net | News Archive

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