Green Powerful Computing

In efforts of getting onto the environmentally friendly products bandwagon, many firms in the computing technology area have been doing research during the past few years in making their products leaner and greener. Yes, they have come a long way say for example, Intel’s newest Quad-core processors that consume less power and implement scalable architecture that shut’s down certain parts of the microprocessor that are not used when doing a certain process to lower the power consumption. The smart fan controls are also a newer concept which not only lowers power but noise levels to more peaceful levels.

In the past, powerful computers required huge cooling fans that ran at the fastest speeds technology allowed making your computer sound like a humming jet engine with one or more fans to achieve the best possible amount of air-flow (and did we forget to mention that the older microprocessors literally ‘burned to a crisp’ if there was any problem with the cooling system). It used to be that PC’s or clones as they were referred to had the cheapest fans and heat sinks which money could buy in efforts to lower cost, this prompted major manufacturers to implement standardized cooling systems designed specifically for their brands to ensure they perform better. After-market cooling systems also worked hand in hand with manufacturers to come up with cooling systems that were designed for specific applications. Cooling systems with smart fan’s, liquid cooling (similar to your car’s cooling system failure of which can lead to catastrophic failure of both the computer and your car), and other exotic cooling methods (piezoelectric or Peltier coolers that had metal plates in conjunction with sandwiched materials that cooled as electric current was applied to them) The last two being better at the cooling part but imagine going against the common sense of not to mix water and sensitive microelectronics and cooling your almost-red hot processor with a device that can reach almost freezing point.

Posted by Nick at 3:20 am under Computer Accessories, Features, General, Laptops, PCs