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IBM Creates a Cooler Supercomputer

Chilled water reduces energy needs for a more powerful machine

By Laila Weir,  Newser User

Posted Apr 8, 2008 1:10 PM CDT
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(Newser) – IBM has found a way to squeeze five times the performance out of a supercomputer at just 40% of the power. The newest version of the Power 575 draws chilled water into the computer and runs it through copper plates above processors to cool them, before expelling the heated water, reports CNet. This method reduces the need for air conditioning.

The system draws heat out of the computer, making it more efficient than previous systems that left warm water inside the machine. "Water is about 4,000 times as efficient as air to cool a system," says IBM’s general manager of power systems.The new Power 575 has 448 processing cores.

The IBM logo at the main campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C. is seen in this July 31, 2007 file photo.
The IBM logo at the main campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C. is seen in this July 31, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Karen Tam, file)
A worker cleans up a wall at the IBM booth on the CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, northern Germany, on Friday, Feb. 29, 2008.
A worker cleans up a wall at the IBM booth on the CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, northern Germany, on Friday, Feb. 29, 2008.   (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach)
The IBM booth is shown at the National Retail Federation convention in New York in this January 15, 2008 file photo.
The IBM booth is shown at the National Retail Federation convention in New York in this January 15, 2008 file photo.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
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Another innovative cooling system
CNET

 
IBM • energy saving • supercomputer • Power 575 • water-cooled processors

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