[CeBIT 2008] - Foxconn shows off Concept for Combined Peltier and Water Cooling

Foxconn’s CeBIT stand is dominated by a so-called Theme Park that is lit green in keeping with the Green IT theme. Here, the company presents system solutions and motherboards that are meant to save energy thanks to various technological innovations. For one, individual phases of the power circuitry can be switched off when they are not needed, increasing efficiency. Additionally, Foxconn’s boards can dynamically lower their system speed, lowerin power consumption even further. However, Foxconn isn’t the only company using these techniques - ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI also offer products that are capable of reducing dynamically adjusting their power consumption during operation. This year’s CeBIT follows the motto "Green IT". Of course, this is not the case because the companies have suddenly discovered their greener sides. Instead, to be blunt, there is a profit to be made by appealing to the buyers’ environmental conscience.

Another object of interest at Foxconn’s booth is a P45 motherboard that the company has equipped with everything but the kitchen sink. By using AMD components, the board is able to offer four fully-featured PCI-Express cards that can be equipped with graphics cards. Since four current-gen high-end cards would be too much to handle for any power supply, the board also sports two PSU connectors. Special attention was also given to the cooling solution. Of course there is the heatpipe which has become an obligatory feature on any enthusiast board. Additionally, the prototype also sports a thermoelectric (Peltier) cooler for the northbridge as well as connectors for a liquid cooling solutions. Obviously, this design concept doesn’t fit in very well with the company’s other ecological statements - then again, it is an extreme prototype we’re talking about.