[djohnson]

I think the water colling of the dual 2.5Ghz PowerMac is a test for future system. I dont think that this system needs it, but that future ones will. What better then to test it out now? Think of a near silent dual cored dual hyperthreading cpu

[misc]

If I had to guess the chips are being overclocked to hell and they are hot as anything..

[Catfish_Man]

Originally posted by misc:
If I had to guess the chips are being overclocked to hell and they are hot as anything..

Please say that was sarcasm...


(in case it wasn't, IBM publicly announced 2.5GHz G5s several months ago, so it's not like this is faster than it's supposed to go)

What Apple claims is that although the G5 doesn't use as much power as competing x86 chips, it's much smaller, so the heat per square centimeter is as bad or worse (paraphrasing here, they didn't say exactly that)

[Graymalkin]

Water cooling was used in order to provide an efficient means to move heat away from the processor. A closed circuit water cooler with high-volume low-speed fans is much quieter than a air cooled heat sink with the same fan arrangement. One of the major markets for the G5 is in audio and video studios, excessively loud computers are not well received by such customers.

The 2.5GHz chips themselves don't necessarily need to run hot in order for the systems to have a water cooling system. The 2GHz G5s run their fans at relatively low speeds, the only time they run full blast is when there's very poor ventilation in the room. If the 2.5GHz G5s were air cooled but ran their fans 25% faster than the 2GHz systems it's likely it was deemed useful to go with water cooling. Being able to increase the clock speed over the 2GHz G5s by 25% yet keep the system's sound levels roughly equivilent to their slower cousins was likely a large factor of the design.

[chabig]

I wonder if the water pump will make much noise.

Chris

[eddiecatflap]

..only when you flush it

[Maflynn]

Originally posted by djohnson:
I think the water colling of the dual 2.5Ghz PowerMac is a test for future system. I dont think that this system needs it, but that future ones will. What better then to test it out now? Think of a near silent dual cored dual hyperthreading cpu

I doubt it, look at how complex and imposing it is. Seems to me like an extreme solution not needed for the current cpu, but for future ones. Profit margins on Computers are thin enough as it is, seems it would be a waste of funds to put something that complex in just because.

To me, that baby must be over-clocked and churning out some serious heat.

Mike

[Eriamjh]

Two theories:
1.) It needs it to run (In other words: overclocked).
2.) It needs it to run quietly (In other words: Not a wind tunnel G4).

Apple does not put out experimental technology for future models. It tests it in the lab. This watercooling must be required or it wouldn't be there.

Apparently the old 1.42Gz Dual G4s had one heck of a cooling system. Ever notice Apple stopped selling those and stuck with the 1.25GHz G4s for OS9 capable systems instead of selling OS9 1.42s?