RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Supercomputer Porn...

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sun, 30 Nov 2003, Matt Ross wrote:

> > The weird skew shape is apparently optimal for getting air to flow in
> > and around the hundreds and hundreds of CPUs inside each of these
> > things.  One of the very trickiest parts about very high-density
> > supercomputing solutions turns out to be keeping the thing cool. The
> > reason we have 9 of these here is that this computer is being designed
> > to be far and away the fastest in the world, and they need nine units
> > to rub this in. :-)
>
> Weird. I would have thought the basic grid/corridor design would be best
> for cooling. My idea of an optimal design would be a single "wall" with
> airflow "through" the wall the short way. Of course, I'd more likely
> design it like a Cray with a huge liquid cooling system...

I think they are trying to minimize the lengths of circuits, so they want
to pack CPUs densely instead of spreading them across a big board.  But
that kind of dense packing creates heat problems.  So the engineering
problem is finding the right balance between those two goals.

Mike
_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion