An interesting idea.. BUT.. you might need some sort of "bench test" fixture.. thermally driven convection might work.
And I think you'd have mfrs worried about people filling a rack full of fanless nodes and then not turning on the fans. Or the power failing to the fans, or, opening both doors. I suppose some sort of overtemperature cutout would solve this: the mobo would just shut down if it got too hot. Whatever happened to a Beowulf made of tower cases piled on brick and board book cases? Or this incredibly adaptable scheme: http://climate.ornl.gov/~forrest/linux-magazine-1999/ note the easy reference information inscribed on each node in this novel heterogenous cluster. It's all part of addressing: "Management of such a large, heterogeneous cluster poses many challenges." Jim Lux -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Broadley Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 2:15 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Beowulf] let's standardize liquid cooling Sounds expensive, complicated, and challenging. How about a MUCH simpler proposal: eliminate fans from compute nodes. Nodes should: * assume good front to back airflow Racks would: * have large fans front AND back that run at relatively low rpm, and relatively quiet. * If front or rear door open the other door would ramp up fans (and noise) to compensate. My measurements of 1U nodes have shown a significant fraction of the power budget goes to fans! Fans that fit in 1U (even 2U) nodes seem to generate more noise, heat, and vibration than airflow. _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
