IBM researchers say they were able to push a silicon processor up to 500 gigahertz -- 100 times faster than your fancypants new desktop -- with a bit of extreme cooling. The researchers took a new type of chip that can do 350GHz at room temperature, bathed it in liquid helium to get the temp down to just above absolute zero and proceded to overclock like mad.
The main goal was to show there's still plenty of life in silicon-based chip manufacturing. The researchers say they think they can hit 1,000GHz with a bit more work.
Chilly chip shatters speed record [BBC]
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