Intel Thermal Architects Discusses Server Fan Power and heat sinks

Just sat in a presentation at Intel Developer Forum. There are interesting facts that are hard to get out of Server OEMs.

Updated 3:21P. Here is the pdf of the presentation

Session Title:
Server Cooling Design Optimization for Low Power Consumption

Level:
Advanced

Abstract:
Topics Include:
• Design implications of board layout due to cooling requirements
• Guidelines for evaluating power savings and cooling BOM cost
• Methods for enabling high room ambient capability
• Example next-generation system thermal design comparisons

Robin Steinbrecher

Platform Thermal Architect

Intel Corporation

Robin is a thermal architect in Intel’s Server Platforms Group covering future platforms. He has designed cooling systems for servers and workstations for more than 20 years at both IBM* and Intel.

The slides will be up on the www.intel.com/idf site, but here are some pictures that will give you an idea of what was presented.

How about 11% of power used by fans in active state and 16% of power used in idle.image

A choice of what heat sink has a 40% difference in fan power.

image

image 

Combine the heat sink choice with fan power and look at a range of 75 watts on the high to a low of 25 watts to cool a 95 watt processor.

image

And this choice can affect the ambient temperatures by 10[ degrees C.

image

And Robert adds a good call to action.

Fan Power Consumption should be part of equipment specifications.

image