[Beowulf] Servers Too Hot? Intel Recommends a Luxurious Oil Bath

[Lux, Jim (337C)]

On 9/3/12 2:14 AM, "Eugen Leitl" <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

>
>http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/08/servers-too-hot-intel-recomme
>nds-a-luxurious-oil-bath/
>
>Servers Too Hot? Intel Recommends a Luxurious Oil Bath
>
>    By Robert McMillan 08.31.12 4:51 PM
>
>You want to know a fast way to cool down a computer? Dunk it in a big
>tank of
>mineral oil.
>
>
>
>There is a downside, though. If you need to pop open an oil-cooled server
>to
>change a part, it can get a little messy. One of the Intel techs working
>on
>the tests in the company¹s New Mexico data center brought in a change of
>clothes each day, just in case he needed to pull the plug, drain the oil,
>and
>tinker with one of the systems.

I've worked with oil insulated and cooled systems. They are a mess. They
all leak, unless the entire thing is permanently sealed (e.g oil filled
capacitors vacuumed out and filled and crimp sealed at the factory)

A bit of a fire hazard too.. Unless you run (very expensive) silicones or
(contaminated with dioxins) PCBs

And, capillary flow of the oil through the wires, although you could use
solid, uninsulated wires to get on and off the board, if you were clever.



>
>Green Revolution recommends an oil change every decade.

I'll bet they have to change it more often than that.  This isnt something
like a pole transformer.


>