All articles tagged with #power consumption
Sam Altman's AI data centers are projected to consume as much power as major US cities like New York and San Diego, raising concerns among experts about the environmental and infrastructural impacts of AI's rapid growth, with nuclear energy seen as a potential but limited solution.
Goldman Sachs predicts that AI-driven demand will double data center power use from 1% to 4% of global electricity by 2030, with significant capital spending by tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, reaching $736 billion in 2025-2026, amid rapid construction and technological shifts in data infrastructure, presenting both opportunities and risks for investors.
Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is expected to offer performance improvements but will likely have similar power consumption as its predecessor, due to the use of an updated 3nm process that provides minimal efficiency gains. Despite this, manufacturers may offset power needs with larger batteries, and Qualcomm aims to maximize performance through higher core frequencies.
The article discusses the value of keeping old CPUs versus upgrading to faster ones, emphasizing that older hardware can still be powerful and sufficient for many tasks. It argues that investing in high-performance CPUs offers long-term benefits, especially for developers, by reducing compile times and maintaining productivity, but also cautions about increased power consumption and costs. The piece highlights that incremental hardware improvements can significantly impact work efficiency over time, and that companies often underinvest in developer hardware, which can be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Residents in Virginia are increasingly opposing the rapid growth of data centers due to concerns over power and water usage, noise, and environmental impact, leading to delays and rejection of new projects despite the industry's growth driven by AI demand.
AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X CPU has been tested with a 5.5 GHz all-core overclock at 253W and an unlimited power profile consuming 320W. The tests, conducted by Anandtech forum member Igor_kavinski, show significant performance improvements, with the CPU achieving up to a 40% performance boost over Intel's Core i9-14900K and a 38% improvement over AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X at stock configurations. The results highlight the efficiency and power of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 9000 "Zen 5" Desktop CPUs, expected to launch later this month.
Huawei unveiled its next-gen 10 Petabyte OceanStor Arctic magneto-electric storage solution at MWC 2024, claiming it could reduce total cost of ownership by 20% compared to tape and power consumption by 90% compared to hard drives. Additional details on the magneto-electric disk (MED) drive suggest it may use spun-down disks to save energy and reduce wear when not in use, potentially competing with tape on performance. However, the exact technology behind the power-saving feature remains undisclosed, with OceanStor Arctic expected to be available outside of China in the second half of 2025.
Huawei unveiled its next-gen 10 Petabyte OceanStor Arctic magneto-electric storage solution at MWC 2024, claiming it could reduce total cost of ownership by 20% compared to tape and power consumption by 90% compared to hard drives. Additional details on the MED drive reveal a potential spin-on-demand feature that allows disks to power down or turn off when not in use, significantly reducing energy consumption. However, the exact technology behind the power-saving feature remains undisclosed, leaving questions about how it can spin yet consume 90% less power than hard drives. OceanStor Arctic is expected to be available outside of China in the second half of 2025.
Dell has revealed details about Nvidia's upcoming AI GPUs, codenamed Blackwell, which are expected to consume up to 1000 Watts, a 40% increase in power over the prior generation. This increase in power consumption will require innovative cooling solutions from server makers like Dell. The new GPUs may feature a dual-die design to manage the heat generated, and they are anticipated to be built on a 3nm-class process technology. Dell's CFO highlighted the company's engineering expertise in liquid cooling and power management to prepare for the computational capacity of these next-generation GPUs, which are expected to be available next year.
A leak has revealed the specifications of Intel's upcoming flagship Core i9-14900KS Limited Edition CPU, including a 6.2 GHz boost clock and over 400W of power consumption. The chip is expected to have 24 cores, 32 threads, and feature a 150W base TDP, with a peak power consumption of 410W. The high power consumption suggests the need for premium cooling solutions, and the CPU is anticipated to run hot, reaching temperatures of up to 101 degrees Celsius. While there's no official release date or price, speculations point to a launch in the near future, potentially priced around $800.
A recent study by researchers from Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University reveals the significant power consumption and carbon footprint associated with generative AI tools. The study found that the least efficient image generation model consumed almost as much power per image as charging a smartphone, with 1,000 images generating emissions equivalent to driving 4.1 miles in an average gasoline-powered vehicle. While generating text was less power-intensive, the overall energy consumption of AI servers on a global scale is already comparable to that of an entire country. The findings highlight the urgent need for energy-efficient solutions in the AI industry to mitigate its environmental impact.
Microsoft is introducing an energy saver mode for Windows 11 Insiders, which extends the existing battery saver option and can be used on both laptops and desktop computers. The feature helps conserve electricity by trading off some system performance and can be enabled from the Quick Settings menu or configured in the Settings menu. Energy saver mode is currently rolling out to Windows 11 Insiders in the Canary channel, while the existing battery saver mode and energy recommendations feature are available to all Windows 11 users.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 offers double-digit performance gains compared to the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but at the cost of increased power consumption and reduced efficiency. The increased clock speed of all the Cortex-A720 cores in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 improves multi-core performance, but also raises power consumption by 28%. Phone makers using this chipset will need to intelligently tune the CPU cluster to avoid performance degradation, and thermal management will be crucial to prevent thermal throttling.
The Dimensity 9300 outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Apple's A17 Pro in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test, despite consuming more power. The Dimensity 9300 achieves an 11.7 percent higher overall score than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 while using the same amount of power. However, it consumes 19.8 percent more power than the A17 Pro, which is 23.75 percent slower than the Dimensity 9300. The Dimensity 9300 secures the highest performance-per-watt ratio in the test.
The Raspberry Pi 5 has a high power consumption even when powered down, consuming over a watt in standby. However, a simple config change can reduce its power consumption. The issue arises from certain HATs where the 3V3 rail shuts down but the 5V rail doesn't. The Raspberry Pi foundation kept the rails on all the time for compatibility reasons, but future OS releases may provide a more elegant solution. The Raspberry Pi 5 is being hailed as the closest yet to a usable everyday PC.