On Mon, 09 Jun 2014 04:16:24 +1000, Chris Angelico wrote: > On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 4:09 AM, Sturla Molden <sturla.mol...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> Chris Angelico <ros...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Kurdt: I wouldn't disturb the fan controller. Kurdt: Ever seen an AMD >>> without a fan? ;) Leshrak: heh, yeah >>> Leshrak: actually. it's not a pretty smell Kurdt: Especially when >>> it's overclocked. It goes FZZZZT in under two seconds. >>> >>> I think that's about right. >> >> One would think that in 2014, a device called a "thermostat" would shut >> down the power before expensive equipent goes up in a ball of smoke. > > That exchange actually happened back in 2005 (wow! ages ago now), but > same difference. However, I think there are very few thermostats that > can cut the power quickly enough for an overclocked chip that loses its > heat sink. MAYBE if the heat sink is still on and the fan isn't, but not > if the hs falls off. "Under two seconds" might become "the blink of an > eye".
The fact that CPUs need anything more than a passive heat sink is *exactly* the problem. A car engine has to move anything up to a tonne of steel around at 100kph or more, and depending on the design, they can get away with air-cooling. In comparison, a CPU just moves around a trickle of electric current. (No currently designed car with an internal combustion engine uses air- cooling. The last mass market car that used it, the Citroën GS, ceased production in 1986. The Porsche 911 ceased production in 1998, making it, I think, the last air-cooled vehicle apart from custom machines. With the rise of all-electric vehicles, perhaps we will see a return to air- cooling?) CPU technology is the triumph of brute force over finesse. -- Steven D'Aprano http://import-that.dreamwidth.org/ -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
