Intel Unveils The First 90% Recyclable PC
On the 24th of February 2023, Intel held an event in Beijing with the theme “joining hands with ecological partners to share new concepts of high-energy and low-carbon, and jointly create green commercial computers.”
Intel and its partners – a Chinese state-owned software company, and Acer displayed the first eco-friendly mainstream computers, wherein 90% of the components are recyclable.
With the population being more eco-conscious than ever, which is good. But performance isn’t the only thing people look at when shopping for the best processor or graphics card. We want our computers to be fast but, we don’t want our systems to hurt the environment when the inevitable time comes to dispose of them for faster hardware.
Because Intel only supplies processors, other manufactures will need to partner with them in order to make computers as a whole more environmentally friendly. This will require manufactures to be more conscious of carbon emissions from the manufacturing of components to recycling them.
The system which as demoed uses Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake chips. Intel didn’t specify which 12th gen processor they were using in the build. Intel’s stock cooler is used to cool the chip. Considering the scope of the conference, we can assume they weren’t using an overclockable chip due to the inherit higher power consumption of Intel’s overclockable K-series processors – it wouldn’t look good having an eco-friendly PC with a maximum power draw of 241W just for the processor. This leaves the locked non-K chips which draw 65W and the T-series chips which draw a miniscule 35W.
The motherboard boasts fewer components, being reduced from 1800 to 1400, which is a 22% reduction in materials. The power delivery subsystem is reportable 6% more efficient than the design on conventional motherboards. The construction of the PCB has always made it difficult to recycle, being made of metal, resin, and glass fibres. The recycling rate to metal is good, but the resin and glass fibres are challenging to separate. Intel Advocates for eco-friendly PCB solutions. Reportedly, Intel and its industry partners can achieve 95% recycling rate for metals and glass fibre and 90% for organic materials.
The motherboard features a simple design. With two SO-DIMM (laptop memory slots), a single M.2 slot for storage and one PCI-e x16 expansion card slot. Intel didn’t mention what form factor the motherboard uses, only revealing that the PCB area is 36% smaller than a standard ATX motherboard.
The system uses a small gallium nitride (GaN) power supply which is up to 70% smaller than a standard AXT power supply. The gallium nitride power supply has a fan-less design and has only a single 12V output. The power supply from the show floor has an 80 plus titanium certification, meaning 94% efficiency at 50% load and 90% at 10% load.
With everything about this green PC being smaller, it only makes sense to have it in a smaller chassis. Residing in a 7 litre case, its even smaller than Intel’s Beast Canyon NUC (small form factor pc) which has an 8 litre case. Only 4 screws are needed to fasten down the motherboard.
We aren’t sure if we can expect the first green PC’s to start rolling out on the commercial market or if they are more of a tech demo to showcase what can be done. Ether way it’s the right direction to be heading.
