Ice-Cold Processors?

edited November 2007 in Hardware
Does anybody know anything about the cold processors that run freezing cold which makes em faster? I heard about these like 1 or 2 years ago and havnt heard anything about em since.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    It's basic electronics. The colder a circuit is, the less likely it is to exhibit electron leakage. In nanometer electronics, the circuits and insulators are so small that electrons can actually tunnel through the insulation and "Leak" into other parts of the chip. This screws up signalling, timing, the regulation of voltage and all sorts of unwanted effects.

    Like capillaries in the human body, however, when you apply low temperatures, the circuits shrink. Shrunk circuits, if only slightly, increases the thickness of the insulation and shrinks the holes of escape for the wily little electrons. The result is that the CPUs can run <i>much</i> faster than usual, because they can't be sabotaged by the nature of particles as quickly as usual.

    So there are a variety of technologies to keep a CPU ultra-cold:

    -Thermoelectric cooling (TEC/Peltiers)
    -Phase change
    -Chilled water
    -Evaporative cooling

    Some of them are viable in the long run, some are not. All are expensive.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I would honestly recommend that you follow good air cooling to its conclusion before trying one of these methods. As Thrax says, they're all expensive, and in some cases you can actually get better results with a skillfully assembled aircooling system than with a poorly-researched water cooler or other setup. Especially with today's 65 and 45-nm CPUs, we're seeing them reach speeds with good air that were basically considered ludicrous* just a few years ago.

    Also, TEC required another cooling system on the "hot side" such as an H20 setup or something like that. Unfortunately we haven't found a shortcut of the laws of thermodynamics or anything like that. ;)

    *Yes, we've gone to plaid.
  • RyderRyder Kalamazoo, Mi Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    GHoosdum wrote:
    *Yes, we've gone to plaid.
    I see what you did there... good on ya.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I also see what you did there. +rep.
  • edited November 2007
    I was talking about the processors that run freezing cold without a cooling system. I heard they run around -300 degrees C (Maybe)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    No.
  • mas0nmas0n howdy Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I was talking about the processors that run freezing cold without a cooling system. I heard they run around -300 degrees K

    0 degrees Kelvin = Absolute Zero, and no we have not defeated the universe yet.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited November 2007
    DAMN YOU UNIVERSE!!!! Still beating us. I think what he remembers is the first Nitrogen pylon test on a P4 being clocked up to 9.4ghz. The only reason that "worked" was because they never turned it on.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    You must have been reading the Onion if there was news about a CPU that broke the laws of physics.
  • edited November 2007
    it was probably celsius I dont remember it was like a year or 2 ago
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    I was talking about the processors that run freezing cold without a cooling system. I heard they run around -300 degrees C
    The source you heard from is in a state of fantasy.
  • edited November 2007
    Ok I found where I saw this info and it says -450 degrees below 0 it doesnt say F or C so Im assumining it is F because its in the US.

    They use Liquid Helium thats why they are so cold.

    "Run Chip Run

    American Scientists unveiled a new microchip that is 100 times faster than those used in desktop computers. The new are so hot they are cold. In fact, because of liquid helium, the chips are as cold as outerspace: 451 degrees below zero! Industry experts say these chillin' chips will soon be on the market in new products such as cell phones that are so fast that their movie-quality videos will skip compression"
  • edited November 2007
    Website:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/21/financial/f163743D48.DTL

    A super-cooled computer chip has shattered speed records for silicon-based electronics, but don't expect your PC to hum along at 500 gigahertz anytime soon.

    The chip only ran at the high speed when it was cooled to 451 degrees below zero — just 8 degrees above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible in nature, researchers at IBM Corp. and Georgia Tech said.

    Still, researchers believe they can improve the technology so that high speeds can be reached at room temperature — a development that could lead to advances in cell phones, radar technology and space exploration, among other applications.

    The typical cell phone chip today runs at 2 GHz, while the highest-end PC microprocessors run at less than 4 GHz.

    "The industry always wants more. People are always wondering how far silicon can take us," said John Cressler, a professor with Georgia Tech's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "And this should show there's a lot of mileage left to go."

    Cressler and a team of 22 scientists and graduate students forged the chip by melding silicon with atoms of the element germanium, a process so fragile that even the tiniest miscue could evaporate their work.

    It took researchers nine months to invent a new process to clock the chip by injecting liquid helium into a probing station. Scientists can view the process through a powerful electronic microscope zoomed to see the tiny chip, only a few thousandths of a millimeter wide.

    Silicon remains the cheapest and easiest material to mass produce, and researchers say this latest development is an important step in showing the electronics industry the speeds that silicon-based chips could reach.

    The previous speed for a silicon-based chip, set at room temperature, was 375 GHz. While the Georgia Tech team's chip set a slightly lower speed at the same temperature — about 350 GHz — Cressler said there is plenty of room to improve.

    "This is a first look at what the limits can be," Cressler said. "I'm hoping this record can be broken a few times."

    another website
    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970119/ai_n9644042

    Search Google
    liquid helium cooled computer chips
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    The chip is not running that cool on its own; it is being cooled by liquid helium.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    GHoosdum wrote:
    The chip is not running that cool on its own; it is being cooled by liquid helium.

    I was thinking this, but it was so obvious I thought I was missing something.
  • edited November 2007
    Ya I just figured that out as I said I read stuff about it 1 to 2 years ago so I didnt remember all the details. (No-Ones Perfect :)
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