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SeaMicro Unveils 512 Atom-Based Server
1sockchuck writes "Stealthy startup SeaMicro has unveiled its new low-power server, which incorporates 512 Intel Atom CPUs, a load balancer and interconnection fabric into a 10u server. SeaMicro, which received a $9.3 million government grant from DOE to develop its technology, says its server uses less than 2 kilowatts of energy — suggesting that a single rack with four SeaMicro units and 2,048 CPUs could draw just 8 kilowatts of power. Check out the technical overview, plus additional coverage from Wired, GigaOm and VentureBeat."
They're going to power a Ferrari out of 34.5 Vespa scooter engines.
Considering how many articles were linked I don't know if you rtfa'd or not.
The Core 2 uses a bit more than twice as much power, but if you have two Atoms you also need twice as many north-bridge chips and this pushes the power usage up to over what the Core 2 will consume.
This is from the wired article.
Just changing the CPU to a low power chip, though, isn't enough says SeaMicro. The trick lies in creating a new architecture that can pull all the chips together and manage their power requirements.
"If you just replace the chips in a traditional server with Atom processors, the power consumption actually goes up," says Feldman.
Integrating features such as storage, networking and server management into a single ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) helps manage power better, says the company. It has also virtualized the CPU input-output so those modules that would have otherwise occupied space on a board and consumed power don't anymore.
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