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IBM Using Hot Water to Cool Supercomputer

treehugger.com — IBM's Power 575 means 80 percent less air conditioning and 40 percent less power required than older generations of comparable computing might.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 15, 2008

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51 Comments

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  • chudgoo, on 04/15/2008, -7/+71MISLEADING TITLE OF THE YEAR!

    Hot water is the result of cooling the chip with cold water. wtf. really.
  • skags, on 04/15/2008, -2/+21"...the system actually starts with fairly hot 45C water, running it past the blazingly hot microprocessors to bring them down to a (still toasty) 85C operating temperature..."
    rtfa. really.
  • mooninite, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1545C = 113F

    That's pretty damn hot last time I checked. What planet are you from?

    As far as computers are concerned, Core 2 CPUs IDLE at 45C with air cooling, so yes that's quite normal.
  • ninjasaurus, on 04/15/2008, -1/+12I wish I could hate you to death
  • ByteGuerilla, on 04/15/2008, -0/+7Do we really need to go over this again?
  • Topher06, on 04/15/2008, -0/+5Is it just me, or is IBM stepping up big time in the semi-conductor business. I mean, they come out with a new fast, large and cheap flash storage technology, litterally "lightning" fast new CPU's and there seems to be a weekly report about some new advancement in CPU technology. Also they are the brains behind every current generation game console placing IBM technology in dozens of millions of homes. Should Intel and AMD start getting worried? Was Apple dumb for dropping IBM in favour of Intel? I really hope IBM does push into the desktop market if this is what the are coming up with lately, AMD doesn't seem to even be a blip on Intel's radar and Intel CPU's are not dropping in price without any competition.
  • maeon3, on 04/15/2008, -0/+4If there are any impurities in the water, the chip could suffer a "stroke". where one circut suffers a failure because of a water blockage.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+4Because it's highly impractical?
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+3No, 23 is AFAIK
    Now shut the ***** UP about it already.
  • inactive, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2what in the hell does that have to do with this?
  • JudgeMonkey, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2I can think of a hundred liquids that would be bad for cooling a system, but after it's done I'd rather drink. But of course, we can go right to pee.
  • habenneas, on 04/15/2008, -0/+2Fast text mirror: http://www.lynxcache.org/usr/1/IBM_Uses_Hot_Water_ ...
  • inactive, on 04/16/2008, -0/+2How about no. You didn't help? No complaining.
  • uahgekido, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3Well then you should have submitted it 6 days ago so we'd all not be left behind.
  • Baryn, on 04/15/2008, -1/+3This gives whole new meaning to the phrase (you might be a *****)
  • jacenat, on 04/15/2008, -5/+745C is NOT hot. it's warm at most.
  • inactive, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Seriously, These people must not know the metric system.

    # sensors
    coretemp-isa-0000
    Adapter: ISA adapter
    Core 0: +56.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

    coretemp-isa-0001
    Adapter: ISA adapter
    Core 1: +56.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

    (**desperately needs to clean out PC :P)
  • Buckiller, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1thats relatively cool :p
  • HonoredMule, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1That's not similar at all.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -0/+1Yes. ***** Yes. Move on already.
  • quarsaw, on 04/16/2008, -0/+1Never hurt Charlie Babbitt!
  • scottsolo, on 04/15/2008, -4/+5hot water is not used to COOL the computer, it's the product of cooling the computer.
  • Radical5, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2wat
  • skags, on 04/15/2008, -1/+2Let debate the hotness of celebrities instead. I would put up a picture of 45C on amIhotornot.com, but I'm at work.
  • LastDitchHero, on 04/15/2008, -10/+10Well that isn't cool
  • iamcanman, on 04/15/2008, -5/+5har har har. dugg for making me chuckle.
  • inactive, on 04/16/2008, -1/+1No. No it does not.
  • Hindustani8, on 04/15/2008, -2/+2It's using water to cool the chips which would result into hot water. The title is misleading.
  • ijmok, on 04/15/2008, -1/+1MSI are doing a similar thing on a much smaller scale - was on dig the other week: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/9051/msi_employees_s ...
  • Giga, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0...Or there could just be hundreds of them in confined spaces which don't allow the heat to escape very well.
  • Naskin, on 04/16/2008, -0/+0AMD should already be worried, they're getting destroyed in the microprocessor market currently. I've always purchased AMDs since they've been cheaper, but Intel is MUCH further due to their development of processors capable of simultaneous multithreading. As soon as software is compatible with this, it's game over for AMD.

    But you're right about a potential Intel-dominated market in the future, which could potentially drive CPU values up. Not only that, but I believe only one manufacturer would cause "Moore's Law" of doubling transistors every 2 years to cease being accurate due to lack of necessity for advancing processors.
  • inactive, on 04/15/2008, -4/+3watch out for the bury brigade.
  • maeon3, on 04/15/2008, -3/+2Why can't they just use a heat engine to turn the waste heat to mechanical energy to be converted?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_engine
  • DestroyFascism, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1You can cook with it? Those chips must be over clocked to the max, or just plain *****! Still since its there...Coffee anyone? Its Hot!
  • luckyguy2000, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1wrong! read again. its heated to 45°C and the computers bring it to 50°C, so that it can used for heating rooms.
    so its correct, the computers are cooled with already hot water, but it would also work with colder water. thats the only misunderstanding one has when reading the headline: for the cooling effect its not necessary to heat the water before cooling the computer with it. its necessary because otherwise the water wouldnt reach a temperature which is suitable for heating rooms.
  • Aensland, on 04/15/2008, -5/+4To be fair, as far as drinking water temps go 45 is nothing...
  • StandardsDT, on 04/15/2008, -2/+1Well then maybe you should be following mixx as well because thats where the submission is.
  • youtubeline, on 04/15/2008, -1/+0super computer
    http://www.youtubeline.com
  • majordanger, on 04/15/2008, -5/+3This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'memory leak'.
  • plizard, on 04/15/2008, -6/+3cold water would be better
  • AriaGloris, on 04/15/2008, -4/+1***** retard.
  • Baryn, on 04/15/2008, -6/+2Lol, cooling compurters with WATER?! If I tried that ***** my Pc would be *****. ***** you.
  • StandardsDT, on 04/15/2008, -8/+3Wow digg is really behind on this. This was reported 6 days ago.

    http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9911760-7.html?ta ...
  • slimjim5811, on 04/15/2008, -8/+3HOT WATER BURN BABY!
  • chudgoo, on 04/15/2008, -7/+1Dugg for ///LOGICBOMB
  • YodaJones, on 04/15/2008, -7/+1They should use urine to cool their CPUs. When they're done they can drink it.
  • chanop, on 04/15/2008, -11/+4The water was heated by the air in Bill Oreilly's head
  • cardyology, on 04/15/2008, -9/+1Wow.

    /sarcasm
  • protogenxl, on 04/15/2008, -11/+2Good to see that a major server company has finally caught up with ancient pc gaming technology.
  • ksclee, on 04/15/2008, -16/+257 diggs: Record low on front page.

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