IBM Creates a Cooler Supercomputer

IBM has found a way to squeeze five times the performance out of a supercomputer at just 40% of the power. The newest version of the Power 575 draws chilled water into the computer and runs it through copper plates above processors to cool them, before expelling the heated water, reports CNet. This method reduces the need for air conditioning.

The system draws heat out of the computer, making it more efficient than previous systems that left warm water inside the machine. "Water is about 4,000 times as efficient as air to cool a system," says IBM’s general manager of power systems.The new Power 575 has 448 processing cores. (More IBM stories.)