IBM researchers have found a way to draw twice as much heat off hard-working computer chips, clearing the way for server farms and data centers to use denser, faster processors.The researchers discovered a better way to squeeze thermally conductive paste between hot chips and their heat sinks, the company announced Thursday at the BroadGroup Power and Cooling Summit in London. Water Cooling Module Inspired by the natural branching patterns of tree roots and human veins, the IBM group discovered they could move a large volume of paste with very little energy, avoiding the danger of damaging or cracking chips as they expand at high temperatures.This advance will allow engineers to design more powerful chips and continue to follow the Moore’s Law trend of shrinking transistors to ever-smaller sizes, said Bruno Michel, manager of the advanced thermal packaging research group at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory. As chips become denser, they are increasingly constrained by their own heat, with modern processors using up to 100 watts per square centimeter. That is already pushing the upper limit of current cooling technology, which relies on fans to blow air over heat sinks. Some large server farms need so many fans that IT managers spend as much money to cool the chips as they do to run them.Because of that budget paradox, many computer vendors have found that cooling systems have changed from mere technical detail into great marketing pitch. When it launched a range of blade and rack servers in August, IBM gave equal billing to its fast chips and its new cooling technique. The “Cool Blue” feature sucks heat out of racked servers by running liquid through the enclosure doors.Likewise, Dell founder Michael Dell boasted at a trade show on Monday that his company’s latest desktops and servers would use less electricity—and produce less heat—thanks to more efficient processors. Chip manufacturers claiming to make those more efficient, cooler processors include Advanced Micro Devices with its “Rev F” Opteron, Intel with its “Woodcrest” Xeon 5100 and future “Clovertown” quad-core Xeon, and Sun Microsystems with its UltraSparc T1.But future chips will get even hotter, so the IBM researchers have already begun testing an even better approach, cooling chips by spraying them with water instead of air. This “direct jet impingement” method uses an array of 50,000 tiny nozzles circulating water in a closed loop, protecting the delicate chips’ circuits from getting wet. In early results, the system has absorbed the power of 370 watts per square centimeter, about four to six times better than current air-cooling methods.-Ben Ames, IDG News Service (Boston Bureau)Related Links: IBM Licenses Tech for Water-Cooled Servers IBM India Teaches English Language Skills via Web NEC to Sell Water-Cooled PC With Blu-ray DriveCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe