Derrick
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IBM and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) announced plans this week to build the worlds’ first water cooled supercomputer.
The supercomputer, which is an initiative to encourage increased energy awareness within computing, will be tasked with repurposing excess heat for the university buildings.
According to IBM the system, dubbed Aquasar, is due to decrease the potential carbon footprint of the system by 85%. It is estimated that this will save up to thirty tons of carbon dioxide a year.
“Energy is arguably the number one challenge humanity will be facing in the 21st century. We cannot afford anymore to design computer systems based on the criterion of computational speed and performance alone,” explained Prof. Dr. Pouli***os of ETH Zurich, head of the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies.
“The new target must be high performance and low net power consumption supercomputers and data centers. This means liquid cooling.”
Aquasar will be located at the ETH Zurich and is due to begin operation in 2010. It will consist of two IBM blade centre servers in one rack and will have a peak performance point of roughly 10 teraflops.
Each processor will be equipped with a micro-scale high performance liquid cooler. It will also feature input and output pipeline networks and connections which will allow each blade to be connected to the entire system. Each pipeline will link to the larger network of the server rack which will in turn be connected to the main water transportation network.
The system will need 10 litres of water to function, says IBM, and its pump will ensure a flow rate of roughly 30 litres per second.
“Water as a coolant has the ability to capture heat about 4,000 times more efficiently than air, and its heat-transporting properties are also far superior. Chip-level cooling with a water temperature of approximately 60 degrees C is sufficient to keep the chip at operating temperatures well below the maximally allowed 85 degrees C,” says IBM.
Liquid cooled computer systems for home PC’s are currently available on a commercial level, although the cost is generally prohibitive. It has also been shown that systems can even be cooled by being submerged in mineral oil.
Despite the availability of these smaller systems, this initiative could perhaps open up a new frontier for supercomputing and indeed greener energy usage.
The supercomputer, which is an initiative to encourage increased energy awareness within computing, will be tasked with repurposing excess heat for the university buildings.
According to IBM the system, dubbed Aquasar, is due to decrease the potential carbon footprint of the system by 85%. It is estimated that this will save up to thirty tons of carbon dioxide a year.
“Energy is arguably the number one challenge humanity will be facing in the 21st century. We cannot afford anymore to design computer systems based on the criterion of computational speed and performance alone,” explained Prof. Dr. Pouli***os of ETH Zurich, head of the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies.
“The new target must be high performance and low net power consumption supercomputers and data centers. This means liquid cooling.”
Aquasar will be located at the ETH Zurich and is due to begin operation in 2010. It will consist of two IBM blade centre servers in one rack and will have a peak performance point of roughly 10 teraflops.
Each processor will be equipped with a micro-scale high performance liquid cooler. It will also feature input and output pipeline networks and connections which will allow each blade to be connected to the entire system. Each pipeline will link to the larger network of the server rack which will in turn be connected to the main water transportation network.
The system will need 10 litres of water to function, says IBM, and its pump will ensure a flow rate of roughly 30 litres per second.
“Water as a coolant has the ability to capture heat about 4,000 times more efficiently than air, and its heat-transporting properties are also far superior. Chip-level cooling with a water temperature of approximately 60 degrees C is sufficient to keep the chip at operating temperatures well below the maximally allowed 85 degrees C,” says IBM.
Liquid cooled computer systems for home PC’s are currently available on a commercial level, although the cost is generally prohibitive. It has also been shown that systems can even be cooled by being submerged in mineral oil.
Despite the availability of these smaller systems, this initiative could perhaps open up a new frontier for supercomputing and indeed greener energy usage.