It's Time To Keep Your Cool

According to Intel, at the current pace of innovation"unless changes are made to the manufacturing process and cooling techniques"in 10 years, processors would have to emit the same amount of heat as the Sun's surface per unit area. Clearly, new cooling techniques will need to replace the traditional heat sink/fan combo that has stood up so well until now.

This elevated challenge is unfortunately hitting the scene at the same time that small form-factor PCs are becoming more popular. Smaller PCs present their own thermal challenges independent of processor advances. Their small size doesn't permit much air volume to dampen temperature. In addition, the tight fit of components in the cabinet restricts airflow and can lead to stalled pockets of air. Finally, smaller PCs offer little cabinet surface area to mount large fans for better airflow or to act as a heat sink.

Caught in this crunch, solution providers will have to start paying better attention to the thermal aspects of their PC solutions, small form-factor and otherwise. When building or specing systems, introduce the use of piped cooling when needed. This will be needed first for smaller PCs, but standard-size PCs will need piped cooling down the road, as well. Also, make sure there is sufficient airflow throughout the cabinet"particularly in the region of the drives, processor, memory and video card"and add fans where possible. Heat-sink grease on drives will turn the drive cage into a heat sink and can also help.

Also, pay attention to fanless x86 processor clones as they emerge. Their low heat dissipation allows them to be passively cooled even though they have high clock speeds. The processors are often sold as part of a small form-factor motherboard or in barebones bundles, which are perfect for focused applications where sound is an issue, such as personal video recorders. In time, fanless systems may become more prevalent on the desktop.

In the long run, semiconductor manufacturers will need to meet the thermal challenges by improving semiconductor manufacturing techniques. A new system for making semiconductors uses water to better focus the beams of light used to make patterns that form transistors and resistors. In that way, the features of a chip can be made smaller, and they will dissipate less heat. However, until such techniques are in widespread use, solution providers will have to rely on cooling techniques. How are things heating up for you? Let me know via e-mail at [email protected].