IBM Doubles CPU Cooling With Simple Change

Ars Technica is reporting that IBM has discovered a new cooling breakthrough that, unlike several other recent announcements, should be relatively easy and cost-effective to implement. "IBM's find addresses how thermal paste is typically spread between the face of a chip and the heat spreader that sits directly over the core. Overclockers already know how crucial it is to apply thermal paste the right way: too much, and it causes heat buildup. Too little, and it causes heat buildup. It has to be "just right," which is why IBM looked to find the best way to get the gooey stuff where it needs to be and in the right amount, and to make it significantly more efficient in the process."

And people thought they were cool polishing......

[malfunct]

I find it kind of funny that after all these years of proper modders polishing the hell out of thier heatsink and spreader, along comes IBM and makes them rough and it cools better :)

That said, its probably only better in the average case but less good than the ideal case due to the fact of having less contact in the microgroove areas.

Excellent

[Kjella]

It doesn't help power consumption, but better cooling = less fans = less noise. I wish I had a server in the basement, that is if I had a basement (no, I'm not living in one).

Good, it was the worse part!

[moore.dustin]

Everything about putting together a new computer, or installing a new chip set is pretty straight-forward, except for the thermal paste. While nothing is to complicated, it is the only factor that is not clearly right or wrong depending on how you do it. Couple that with it being the hardest thing to reach in/on the computer, I am glad to see some changes are being made. It would be nice to simplify the process down to be just as easy as setting the fan on top of it.

Did you read the article?

[Fallen Kell]

And if you did, you will know that the thermal paste itself is very inefficient for its thermal properties compared to the metal surface of the heatsink. What IBM has found out is a way to cheaply and quickly put a heatsink on the CPU which uses less thermal paste (1/3 less), which results in a 50% increase in cooling capability of the heatsink. What they don't tell you is that the idea way is to spread the paste using a hard straight edge with a uniform height over the cpu itself and apply an extremely smooth heatsink to this. But, this process takes too long for it to be worth it in mass production. It typically takes me 2-3 minutes to spread the thermal compound and mount the heatsink on a chip. In a production line, it needs to take 5-20 seconds.

All IBM has done is develop a better method compared to their previous less efficient method. It is still worse then someone taking the time to lap the heatsink level and smooth and properly spread the true correct amount of thermal compound on the CPU then IBM's new method. To give you an idea, IBM is still using around 10x more thermal compound then is used in hand built systems. As you saw, a 1/3 reduction resulted in 50% increase in performance. Imagine then what a 9/10 reduction would result... The compound itself has the highest/worst thermal co-efficient in the cooling system. It makes a lot of sense that getting less of it in there will increase the performance. The key to reducing this substance is having a heatsink that will fit perfectly flush with the CPU.

Re:So... what did they do?

[Anonymous Coward]

...which is the exact same reason a mason uses a notched trowel to spread thinset when laying ceramic tile.

Manually applying it is not nearly as good

[bigtrike]

Do you really think that in 2 minutes with a razor blade that you can get a more uniform thickness than machinery which can be accurate to millionths of an inch?

Re:Excellent

[Anonymous Coward]

Multiply that by a few [hundred] million computers and suddenly you're saving a few [hundred] MW. See also: this post [slashdot.org].

I'll never understand why people are so quick to dismiss seemingly trivial power savings. What's trivial on the single-person level is not-so-trivial on a global level.

Wrong grease.

[gpburdell]

I hope every one realizes that this has nothing to do with the goop you put on before you snap your heatsink on. This is the thermal grease that goes on the die before they put the cap on processor.

Re:And people thought they were cool polishing....

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm... You might not have noticed, but this technique is for the heat transfer between the CPU chip and the heat-spreader, NOT the heatsink bolted on later. This is inside the chip package, and underneath the metal plate you're thinking of as the CPU contact. You have no access to this interface, since it's sealed in the chip carrier. This interface uses a completely different compound as compared to the stuff you use to attach a heatsink, and the design they've come up with actually does work considerably better for this application, in addition to improving heat transfer, it also reduces application force, improving manufacturing yield, and therefore reducing cost.