AMD patents Peltier cooler on chip

21 Oct, 2004 at 4:31pm ET Article published in Tech

An AMD Patent (US patent number 6,800,933)for incorporating a Peltier device onto a CPU core was approved on Oct 5th.

A source who understands this sort of stuff said that the patent could be a way of mastering problems associated with 65 nanometre technology.

“AMD’s possible idea is to mount the TEC into the CPU package and power by Vcc high-plane and GND to prevent any extra wiring for “back of newspaper” so-called system builders. Couple this with a PIB cooler that is good enough to remove the heat from the hotside and they have a cooler running 65 nanometre CPU”.

Source: The Inquirer

Comments

21 Oct 2004 ~ 4:44pm primesuspect
21 Oct 2004 ~ 4:51pm madmat If only Intel'd thought of that with the Prescott, they could've hid a nice TEC under the integrated heatspreader...
21 Oct 2004 ~ 5:11pm KingFish /me wonders about power consumption and how it would be supplied
21 Oct 2004 ~ 5:18pm muddocktor

KingFish wrote:

/me wonders about power consumption and how it would be supplied

They keep going like they are presently, you will have to have a dedicated 20 amp circuit for each machine, much like a microwave oven. :shakehead
21 Oct 2004 ~ 8:03pm Medlock /me is confused

What's a Peltier?
21 Oct 2004 ~ 8:12pm Thrax The peltier effect uses metallic plates sandwiching a flow of electricty which results in one side of the metal being extremely cold, and the other side being extremely hot. The cold side goes against the CPU, and the hot goes agaisnt the heatsink.
21 Oct 2004 ~ 8:15pm Geeky1

Melcor wrote:

The Peltier effect was discovered in 1834. When current passes through the junction of two different types of conductors it results in a temperature change. However, the practical application of this concept required the development of semiconductors that are good conductors of electricity but poor conductors of heat - the perfect balance for TEC performance. Today, bismuth telluride is primarily used as the semiconductor material, heavily doped to create either an excess (n-type) or a deficiency (p-type) of electrons.

http://www.melcor.com/faq.html (everything you ever wanted to know about TECs but were afraid to ask)
21 Oct 2004 ~ 10:37pm Medlock /me reads FAQ...

Damn how much heat are those processors generating to have to use these to aid cooling?
21 Oct 2004 ~ 10:40pm Geeky1 not much. They're commercially available now in systems from Thermaltake, and Apple was using them in the early 90s or late 80s or something.
21 Oct 2004 ~ 11:47pm KingFish The other thing is that peltiers are notorious for being quite power hungry. If you run this type of setup with the fastest nvidia card out today you'd need a 750 watt power supply, if not higher. This is getting insane with respect for the power requirements of today's computers. Peltiers are quite good at what they do but it comes at quite a cost with power consumption. Condensation can be a problem in humid climates such as what can be found in lousyana.

KingFish
22 Oct 2004 ~ 2:11am Thrax You guys are severely overestimating the power draw. The 750w PSUs you're all thinking of and quoting are for full peltier plates with sub-zero temperatures. This fits in a <i>cpu package</i>. It physically can't be very high draw.
22 Oct 2004 ~ 10:40am KingFish True, but this could start a trend with peltiers. Who's not to say that nvidia wouldn't be attracted to peltiers for their hot chips too. Next behind that could be chipsets. Peltiers can draw quite a bit of power. Even if it's not sub zero condensation can be a problem.

KingFish
22 Oct 2004 ~ 10:48am GHoosdum Interesting development. If it comes about, the HSF market will essentially reach a plateau, because the limit to the cooling of the core will be in the peltier, not in the HSF.
22 Oct 2004 ~ 11:55am muddocktor

Thrax wrote:

You guys are severely overestimating the power draw. The 750w PSUs you're all thinking of and quoting are for full peltier plates with sub-zero temperatures. This fits in a <i>cpu package</i>. It physically can't be very high draw.

But the bad thing about it, Thrax, is that now you have to try to dump all the heat the processor is producing plus all the heat the peltier is producing when pumping the heat from the processor too. It's still very inefficient and power consuming. Not even talking about sub zero temps, you are still talking about a pretty substantial peltier element to handle 100+ watts of direct heat from the proc. I know that they are trying to distribute the heat of the processor to a larger contact patch for better heat transmission with the upcoming smaller cores and lower thermal density, but I still don't see having a pelt built into the proc die helping matters due to the added heat (and power) requirements the pelt will put to the system.