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Intel To Make A Greener Microprocessor
crem_d_genes writes "According to the San Jose Mercury News, Intel is planning microprocessors that have a reduced amount of lead in them (reportedly 95% lower). It's about time a company started this - good job - and let's hope other tech companies take the hint. While many places in the US have banned the disposal of computer parts, there have been unintended consequences of the eco-friendly laws. Many 'recycled' computers currently get shipped overseas where parts eventually make their ways into the hands of workers who usually 'burn' the parts to get rid of plastic and recover small amounts of valuable metals. In the process they are exposed to the toxic compounds that are released. In other cases, lead makes its way into drinking water."
Why does x86 processors consume so much power?
All don't. It's a marchitecture thing, Intel wanted high frequencies no matter what. As a result we have processors which do less work per clock cycle, huge pipelines and high power consumption.
All x86 processors don't have this issue. Via's C3 is miles away from Intel's Pentium 4. AMD is also somewhat better than Intel, and Intel's own Banias (Pentium M) is also rather low power.
The problem is, Intel's been brainwashing the public that YOU WANT A COMPUTER WITH MANY MANY GIGAHERTZ for so long now that the're more or less stuck with high power consumption until they have time to create a whole new architecture.
.: Max Romantschuk
Actually, intel is moving away from measuring chip speed by GHZ. Wired just had this article about it.
Basically, Intel is a couple years behind AMD who is now using numbers like 2300+ to describe chip speed.
Seriously, look at the bigger monitor tubes (especially in the EU); they have a radio-dosage sticker certifying the level of beta radiation emitted, usually at the preset acceleration voltage.
Jon.
All the lead is in the monitor glass.
The amount of lead in a base unit is limited to solder and tiny amounts within the ICs.
I suspect this is related to the EU directive.
I work for a European Semiconductor company, and have some involvement in our drive to be lead free, so i know a little about this.
Lead is used in the lead frame of the chip, as the coating to make it solderable, and also in some BGA packages as the balls. Pb is not used in the actual chip manufacture.
There are alternatives to Pb, but normally they require higher temperatures for soldering, which have an impact on the package thermal characteristics and material, which in turn may have some influence on the performance of the chip itself, so these changes have to be handled carefully.
At the moment the US does not have a deadline for phasing out Pb (I think they refused to sign up?) but the EU does, so if Intel wants to sell chips in the EU, or Japan, they have to provide Pb free alternatives.
One person mentioned that this is a small percentage compared to the rest of the Pb in a PC - which comes from the solder mainly, but what you should remember is that the EU directive applies to ALL Pb products, and therefore all circuit boards will be Pb free too.
It's only in the US that you might get a Pb free chip, with no reduction in the ammount of Pb in the rest of the machine.
This is a lot of work for a lot of people. It's not a small change, and all companies have to do this, not just Intel.
The Register has an article with more info.
A flip-chip package currently contains 0.4 grams of lead. A tiny amount compared to that in the solder in a motherboard, let alone a monitor.
IT purchasing is notoriously independent of standards, and it is not just clock speeds. We see jokes such as 500W PC speakers (supplied with a 20VA transformer) and the ubiquitous use of 'X' (4X AGP, 56X CDR).
Standards exist but, apparently, buying a PC is more of an emotial experience than a scientific one!
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
AMD has been working on going lead free for a while (apparently since 2001).
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