How should HPC and the power efficient data center team-up?

We’ve entered the Exascale era, where HPC racks are exceeding 100KW, and the racks that get us to Zettascale will be even hotter. In both enterprise and HPC environments, average rack density has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years. Data Centers are producing more heat and consuming more power. However, HPC data centers are trending towards an impractical power requirement. AMD has shown that even with 2x efficiency improvements every 2 years, a Zettascale system would require 500MW. This would mean 1 Nuclear Power plant is needed for every 2 data centers. A problematic ratio. So, Moore’s Law, the Power Efficiency of the chip, chip packaging, rack density, all need to improve in tandem. Industry leaders recognize that we must pull multiple levers to make Zettascale a reality. If we zoom out from the chip, we can also see how power efficiency can be gained at the facility level. This presentation will explore current power requirements and the heat that our HPC systems produce. We’ll explore how that heat is being re-used and the money data centers are saving with direct liquid cooling