10 ms·

So.. somehow the heat output of a mining computer just disappears? Oh wait that's nonsense, because your CPU is literally a heat pump.

• wizzwizz4 5y ago
  A heat pump moves heat around, using energy – the opposite of a Sterling engine.
• Syonyk 5y ago
  The metric being discussed relates to how much thermal energy you get for a given electrical input. If you put 1000W into a Bitcoin miner, computer, resistive space heater, etc, you get 1000W thermal out. If you use that 1000W to turn the compressor in a heat pump, you get far more heat out (3-4x is a reasonable average in a lot of areas), because you're not simply generating heat from the energy - you're using the energy to move heat. A heat pump is an air conditioner in reverse - you cool the outside air and heat the inside air. A standard CPU dissipates heat as a resistive heater would - you pump 100W into the CPU, you get 100W of heat out. I'm not sure what you're using to claim that a CPU "is literally a heat pump" here - it's not, by any standard definition of a heat pump.
• function_seven 5y ago
  A "heat pump" in this context is a device that uses a refrigeration cycle to extract heat from outside and move it inside. An A/C running in reverse, essentially. And heat pumps are vastly more efficient than resistive heating (or using the heat from a microchip). In many places, for every 1W of power a heat pump consumes, it can move 4W or more of heat into the space.
• eutropia 5y ago
  A heat pump is a specific technology, not a generic term for something that produces heat: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump
• CrazyStat 5y ago
  No, your CPU is a resistive heater, which is less efficient than a heat pump.