Discussion Forums > Technology
Old Pc's are wierd. lol
billlanam:
--- Quote from: darkjedi on November 22, 2009, 10:05:59 AM ---Semantic confusion aside, when I hear 'ceramic', the thing that comes to my mind is 'insulator' not a 'conductor'. Maybe some specialized ceramic fibers (putting random names here) do really offer good thermal conductivity, but whether it's a genuine contributor of its heat dissipating characteristic, I dunno. I know its heat capacity clearly is.
--- End quote ---
Ceramics are electrical insulators.
darkjedi:
Ah, I see. So it's an electrical insulator and a thermal conductor.
surdumil:
Ceramic packaging is just the other option for integrated circuits. Ceramic is a better heat conductor than plastic. It isn't really obsolete. It's just not commonly used and it's kinda expensive which is why microchip manufacturers try to find ways to not use it.
It's amazing how fast you can clock these days without needing a heat sink. I've been involved with designs that use a PowerPC-based microprocessor that clocks at around 650 MHz without need of a heat sink or forced air conduction. It uses a big metal square under the device to conduct heat into the circuit board.
Mikan:
--- Quote from: kureshii on November 22, 2009, 03:05:24 AM ---Do you mean the socket, or the chip covering? As I recall, the really old processors were soldered onto the board, and don't come in a separate die that fits into a manufactured socket.
But in any case, ceramics are pretty gopd heat dissipators (if I didn't remember my lessons from Materials classes wrongly). They're not used often because they're more expensive to manufacture than the usual composite materials you see covering chips these days (again, assuming that what I learnt isn't already outdated).
It seems ceramic-based cooling technology is mainly used in high-end/industrial/military applications these days, which is where budgets tend to be higher. As a recent example, ASUS has a P55 Lynnfield motherboard (ASUS Sabertooth 55i) featuring ceramic-coated heatsinks "for better heat dissipation". I'm guessing in the past they hadn't developed cheaper methods of cooling just yet.
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That + Liquid cooling must be amazing.
The socket has a little metal square in the center surrounded by the prongs then everything on top is ceramic lol
This is from 1994, so unless you mean older PC's I guess mac did things differently, as always.
(click to show/hide)These things even have any value?
PowerMac:
--- Quote from: Mikan on November 22, 2009, 01:12:08 PM ---
--- Quote from: kureshii on November 22, 2009, 03:05:24 AM ---Do you mean the socket, or the chip covering? As I recall, the really old processors were soldered onto the board, and don't come in a separate die that fits into a manufactured socket.
But in any case, ceramics are pretty gopd heat dissipators (if I didn't remember my lessons from Materials classes wrongly). They're not used often because they're more expensive to manufacture than the usual composite materials you see covering chips these days (again, assuming that what I learnt isn't already outdated).
It seems ceramic-based cooling technology is mainly used in high-end/industrial/military applications these days, which is where budgets tend to be higher. As a recent example, ASUS has a P55 Lynnfield motherboard (ASUS Sabertooth 55i) featuring ceramic-coated heatsinks "for better heat dissipation". I'm guessing in the past they hadn't developed cheaper methods of cooling just yet.
--- End quote ---
That + Liquid cooling must be amazing.
The socket has a little metal square in the center surrounded by the prongs then everything on top is ceramic lol
This is from 1994, so unless you mean older PC's I guess mac did things differently, as always.
(click to show/hide)These things even have any value?
--- End quote ---
Yes, Apple used the PowerPC architecture throughout the 90s. Was a very good architecture up until the early 2000s when it just started to suck and Apple eventually switched to Intel. PowerPC is still very popular in embedded applications, for example HP uses PowerPC based chips in a lot of their laser printers
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