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IBM Water-Cools 3D Multi-Core Chip Stacks

Posted by timothy on from the 3d-cubes-are-the-best-kind-of-cubes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Water cooling will enable multi-core processors to be stacked into 3D cubes, according to IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory which is demonstrating three-dimensional chip stacks. By stacking memory chips between processor cores IBM plans to multiply interconnections by 100 times while reducing their feature size tenfold. To cool the stack at a rate of 180 watts per layer, water flows down 50-micron channels between the stacked chips. Earlier this year, the same group described a copper-plate water cooling method for IBM's Hydro-Cluster supercomputer. The Zurich team predicts high-end IBM multicore computers will migrate from the copper-plate water-cooling-method to the 3-D chip-stack in five to 10 years." Reader Lilith's Heart-shape adds a link to the BBC's article on these internally-cooled chips.

12 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. 3D cubes are nice, I guess by krog · · Score: 4, Funny

    But they're really gonna rev up performance once they move to 4-cornered time cubes.

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  2. But the question is.... by CowboyNealOption · · Score: 5, Funny

    can it run Vista??

    1. Re:But the question is.... by Shinmizu · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, nothing can run Vista. God wrote it specifically as a challenge to everyone that asked that stupid question, "Can God write an OS that even he can't run?"

      He's still working on that one rock problem, though...

  3. my favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    mmm cool ranch centrinos

  4. This will never work by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    How can IBM be this stupid? You can't cool a stack of chips with water, they'll just get soggy. I know it's hard to be patient, but if your chips are too hot to eat, you're better off just waiting for them to cool down.

  5. Re:When will water cooling be feasible for ME? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yeah I can't wait for "Water Cooling" to be a common term for my Grandparents to misunderstand...

    "It was hot on my lap...so I water cooled it and now it won't turn on"

  6. Re:Electrolysis by iamdrscience · · Score: 2, Funny

    superoxide radicals
    Sounds like a sweet name for a band.
  7. Risky by Tribbin · · Score: 1, Funny

    If the water gets 100C. it will boil and leave the processor in an isolating bubble.

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  8. Imagine the mistakes of the future by kiehlster · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can see it now, "IBM struck with class-action lawsuit after several incidents of computers being left out in the cold of winter cause the processors to explode due to the natural properties of water expanding into ice. Other incidents with water contamination in liquid nitrogen-cooled 3-D processors have resulted in a similar lawsuit."

  9. Somewhere... by Petersko · · Score: 2, Funny

    "When it's 1024 processors in a water-cooled solid block of silicon"

    Somewhere there's a geek who has already accomplished this goal. He's using it to run Crysis at 4800x3600 with full detail, at 1600 frames per second, and no matter who he shows it off to, he still can't get laid.

  10. Re:When will water cooling be feasible for ME? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This technology is aimed primarily at the server market, although it's sure to eventually trickle down.

  11. I found a picture of the chip! by ZarathustraDK · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here's the chip http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/hellraiser_puzzle_box_L.jpg

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