Intel technologist cites power as biggest issue

[Greebe]

http://planetanalog.com/news/OEG20010205S0083

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">If current trends continue, you would have a device with 425 million transistors in 2005 and a processor with 1.8 billion transistors by 2010, said Pat Gelsinger, Intel's vice president and chief technology officer. You'd also have a heat generator with the intensity of a nuclear reactor, he said.</font>

[xortam]

How about us poor slobs in California? Can you run this stuff off of Methane? We've also got a lot of hot air!

[Jammrock]

hehehehe...we had a power plant explode here in KC last year and we still don't have any power problems.

And yes it literally did explode.

Jammrock

[paulcs]

Hey, you can't beat us. Our refineries explode all the time. (Tosco goes pop.)

We don't really build power plants here anymore. We rebuild them. Right about when they're done, PG&E realizes it has built the thing on top of a fault and they neglected to take that into account. One plant had to be built three times. The first time, they ran into that active fault issue. Then, after rebuilding it, they realize they had "inadvertantly" reversed the plans, and as a result, the two reactors.

Oops.

Those of you on the Western grid outside of California probably don't realize how close our power utility came to knocking out your electricity. A PG&E worker screwed up and a surge shot up the grid, knocking out electricity wherever it hit. Fortunately, it happened on the west side of the Bay and not the east. It moved up the Pennisula, hit San Francisco, and had nowhere else to go. On the east side of the Bay, it would have had plenty of places to go. It would have knocked out the entire grid.

You guys don't want us building anymore plants. We can't be trusted with this stuff.



Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[xortam]

Tosco can't be too bad since they just got bought.

You think electrical outages are bad, wait until they have to start shutting down the gas lines: We barely escaped that today. I had heard they could start with Sacramento, which is at the end of the line, and shrink the line rather than shut the whole thing down. Boy we screwed ourselves good. Half-arsed attempt at deregulation. You've got to deregulate all the way or not at all.

... but I don't mean to get on a soapbox ... how are we going to solve the size limitation on tomorrows chips?

[Thundrchez]

Heat/power dissapation is a real big deal. My company just made a big ol' CPLD. Under "normal" conditions, it is fine. However, if it is programmed to be fully loaded with everything active in it simultaneously, it can melt right out of its package.

[DentyCracker]

What's happening in California now reminds me of what it used to be like here in Jamaica about 6 years ago. I am supposed to be in California for 5 weeks beginning 25th Feb so I'll get to see that firsthand.

[paulcs]

It doesn't look like much, Denty. We've been in a near constant state of Stage 3 Emergency for weeks now, and the lights, so far, have managed to stay on. (Knock on wood.)

If you're going to Los Angeles, it won't look like anything. They have publicly owned utilities and a surplus.

Where in California are you going? If it's the Bay Area, there are a lot of MURCer's here. We could all have tea. Or drinks. Actually, I vote for drinks.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[DentyCracker]

Not sure exactly where yet. Should find out exactly where in a couple of days. It is a Hewlett Packard HP/UX training course though.