Comments on: IBM gives chips a cooling rinse

Researchers develop a system that squirts water over the surface of a processor to cool it--which could promise benefits for server farms.

[Commander_Spock]

Why "WATER COOLED"....

... when "AIR COOLING" or some other form of "LIQUID COOLANT" might be even better. With Water - Think about "corrosion"! Now you will see the best of Cammander_Spock! Where "EAGLES" dare!!!

Best Regards.

[Commander_Spock]

Oops!

"Commander" not "C.mmm......

[No_Man]

other coolants

Air cooling is the least efficient means of cooling a surface. Gases in general have an extremely low cooling density, and plain air is useless. Why do you think they use heat sinks on the processor, rather than just sticking a fan on it?

Purified water is actually not all that corrosive when used with the right metals. Many forms of water corrosion are the result of reactions with salts dissolved in the water. Some metals will still oxidize in water regardless, but I suspect they've already considered this and will plan the chip surface accordingly.

Another liquid coolant would be feasible and could be much more effective. However, since we're already talking about a level of cooling that is beyond our current needs, I suspect they're going to go for the simple and cheap solution before looking into a complex and expensive solution that's overkill.

[tonynaz]

Why not use that energy to heat buildings?

There are certainly many out there much smarter than I am, so that is why I?m surprised to see an absence of technologies to redistribute the heat generated by datacenters to things that can use it, such as office buildings. Ok. That doesn?t work well in the summer, but during winter months that could offset gas and electrical costs. What else can we do with this heat? Maybe I?m stretching the concept a little, but why can?t all this heat be somehow channeled to create steam (or something along those lines) to generate power again.

[willdryden]

Water cooling nothing new

Water cooling PCs has been around since the first Pentium processor was intoduced. Instead of the big heat sink, you mount a water jacket on the chip and run it to a radiator mounted on the back of the case. This is good for noise reduction, but more expensive than a good set of ear plugs. The only new thing seams to be that they are putting the water channels IN the chip.