Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[sgolds]

wbmw, 100W is going to look rather quaint? I certainly hope not! Now, numbers are hard to comprehend, so let's put it in human perspective: Turn on a 100W incandescent bulb and let it get up to temperature. How long can you press your fingertip to that bulb?

Now, consider that the bulb is dissipating heat over a huge area compared to the tiny area of a processor die. Concentrate that heat to this tiny area and you will certainly exceed the melting temperature of many metals!

Hence the increasingly exotic methods to draw heat from processors.

Used to be that microprocessors where heralded as huge improvements over mainframes - which required special air conditioning systems. Those days seem to be slipping away.

Something is wrong with the picture.

IMHO.