NASA develops extreme-heat-resistant CPUs

Finally, you can wave goodbye to your heat-sinks, mods, and water-cooled contraptions, because NASA is on the scene with a new CPU that can rock 1,700 hours of uninterrupted processing at the low, low temperature of 500 degrees... Celsius. According to reports, scientists at the space agency have developed a chip which they call the "silicon carbide differential amplifier integrated circuit," taking the approach of using more heat-resistant materials, rather than external and extraneous cooling technology. "This new capability can eliminate the additional plumbing, wires, weight and other performance penalties required to liquid-cool traditional sensors and electronics," says Phil Neudeck, a NASA electrical engineer, adding, "It's really a significant step toward mission-enabling harsh environment electronics." The agency believes that the new technology will lead to improvements in safety and fuel efficiency, as well as reduced jet engine emissions, though team leaders say they're mainly hoping to, "...seriously jack up our WoW rigs."

[mcvole @ Sep 12th 2007 12:17PM]

Still works when the battery catches fire then?

[Paul @ Sep 12th 2007 1:25PM]

...still can't figure out how to make tiles that don't shatter when foam is thrown at them.

[Wesburl @ Sep 12th 2007 12:17PM]

Soooooo...... Im thinkin of raiding NASA and stealing a few so I can overclock one of these puppys to a speed that will operate near 500 degrees C. Then when it reaches its limit I will roast smores over it while drinking teh World Record Kool Aid.

[VeganFreak @ Sep 12th 2007 12:23PM]

yeah thats cool and all, but can it play doom?

[John @ Sep 12th 2007 2:25PM]

No, but it may be able to run Cortana.

[ethana2 @ Sep 12th 2007 4:30PM]

Do they have an ioq3 doom port? If they do, then yes, you could compile it for whatever instruction set they're using.

The question for me is performance per watt. I've been wanting a liquid cooled laptop.

I'm glad we have another approach in the running. When this, liquid cooling, and High Temp Superconductors converge.... *drools*

[Twitchy @ Sep 12th 2007 4:32PM]

No it can't play doom. But soon my BBQ will...

[JD @ Sep 12th 2007 1:11PM]

If only they could stop the AstroNutts getting drunk and laid then that would be news worthy.

[MacGyver @ Sep 12th 2007 12:25PM]

A great first step, so long as everyone notes that they created a differential amplifier, not a CPU... the two are far, far apart in terms of complexity. It still wouldn't remove the need for heatsinks, though, as at that temp the solder holding our motherboards together would have liquified long before and dribbled off onto our gold-clad external 500MB hard drives.

[Sylvanus @ Sep 12th 2007 12:37PM]

They should talk to the production guys working on the Xbox 360.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 12th 2007 12:37PM]

Go NASA!

(big fan)

[James P Lynch @ Sep 12th 2007 12:41PM]

Seems like this idea could be applied to solar cells. Conventional solar cells lose output when overheated. This development may make it possible to develop solar cells for concentrator applications - say four cells and a parabolic concentrator. Might just lower the cost of solar panels.

[Ant @ Sep 12th 2007 2:21PM]

Let me get this right. This thing sits there at 500c, great, so its fire proof. Now for the rest of the stuff that's sitting around this thing inside your computer. So the only thing that will survive inside your computer is the CPU that just set the rest of your computer (and probably your house) alight. Lol. No I think taking the heat away from the CPU more efficently is a better idea for now until they create a cool running chip.

[Miguel V. @ Sep 12th 2007 12:43PM]

Bah' Intel did it long ago. Nobody remember the first Pentium generation? ;-)

[Tai @ Sep 12th 2007 12:58PM]

lol

[Matt B @ Sep 12th 2007 1:01PM]

Nah, those were the Cyrix chips.

http://www.rabidhardware.net/?id=44

[Pastry Chef @ Sep 12th 2007 1:02PM]

But that doesn't prevent the motherboard from frying...

[BB @ Sep 12th 2007 1:03PM]

Now we can make a Venus lander that will last longer than an hour!

[Ayle @ Sep 12th 2007 3:24PM]

It's not acid resistant....

[Nick @ Sep 12th 2007 2:39PM]

Sweet I hope the XBOX 720 comes with one of those....

[HineyWipe @ Sep 12th 2007 1:27PM]

Yeah, a CPU so hot like their female astronauts, that then follow you to Florida and spray you with mace.

[Chekote @ Sep 12th 2007 1:59PM]

1,700 hours? That's less than a year on an 8-hour a weekday work schedule. Doesn't sound like it's gonna be very useful for traditional applications.

[Lars Groeger @ Sep 12th 2007 8:55PM]

WoW Rigs ??? They are allowed to play World of Warcraft on these Machines !!
Damn ! !!!! I wanna be an Astronaut too !!!

[Eldiablo @ Sep 12th 2007 3:54PM]

Now if they can work out how to mount the CPU on the top of the case, then you can have hot boiling coffee made right at your desk. OR, have a water supply fed into your PC, hook up the CPU to a steam turbine, and you can have a regenerating power supply. Make those lappy batteries last a lot longer.

[andyg8180 @ Sep 12th 2007 2:21PM]

So does this mean no more RRoD??

I've got wood lol...

[Joe Doe @ Sep 12th 2007 2:37PM]

I want a HP Blackbird 002...screw the 360 !

[ethana2 @ Sep 12th 2007 4:32PM]

Yeah really. Code signing? Give me a frigging break. The 360 is a joke.