I just wrote and article Low Cost/Power HPC using Atom processors and Mini-ITX boards. The first table is rather interesting (HPC = High Performance Computing):

The Nehalem Xeon runs 1.8 times faster, generates 7.3 times as much heat and costs 22 times as much as the D510 Atom. The performance is 7.7 times faster, but when you factor in the price-to-performance the Atom is 3 times better than the Xeon solution. Interestingly, the TDP/performance ratios are almost identical for both processors.

And Bill, I would say you were not the only company to go down because you believed: ... open source has been great for hobbyists to get involved ... Sun had the ball and dropped it, too bad because it was a good run.

I think most people have the wrong idea about the "Butterfly Effect." IIRC, the weather scientists were talking about the precision with which they would need to know air movement to make longer term predictions. i.e. the longer the forecast the more digits of precision are needed in your measurement. They were referring to the level of precision and not to butterflies causing a tornado or other such nonsense. Unfortunately, the media like to report it otherwise.

1. All liquids will, at some point, leak or spill
2. When you are convinced that immersive liquid cooling is the future, read rule #1

For special and expensive systems such ideas may be useful, but it is hard to beat air for commodity systems because it is free, there is plenty of it, it cannot spill, it does not put excess load on the floor, it is inert (to electronics), and it can be easily recycled.

Right on, 5 digits and proud

I interviewed these guys at SC09 for Linux Magazine. There are some close up shots of the servers in the oil.

This is one of the most intelligent posts I have read here in a long time. Good or new ideas are quickly dismissed by the mainstream because they are not, well, mainstream. Almost all good ideas have a champion behind them who works tirelessly to "make it happen."