Why Do Borg Computers Operate Better At Higher TEmperatures?

posted on December 26th, 2012, 4:52 am

Anyone who has ever built a PC, especially a high-end gaming PC knows about the value of keeping it cool and even taking ambient room temperature into account. Why is it then that the Borg operate at higher temperature levels on board their ships. How many Arctic Cooler fans do they have on board one of those cubes anyways.....or is it all liquid cooled?

posted on December 26th, 2012, 10:41 am

wut? it seems you're assuming that future computers (from a highly alien race) are even remotely similar to ours.

you wanna know why they can break the rules of our computers? because technobabble technobabble. isolinear chips, that's complete technobabble for a device capable of data storage. their computers can be based on as much technobabble as is necessary to fit the facts.

maybe they don't need to worry about much cooling because they just don't play video games (eg call of duty modern warfare 420), they probably use their computers to do normal things, like self assessment tax returns, pictures of lolsehlats, and watch borg porn (you'll never look at assimilation tubules the same again).

posted on December 26th, 2012, 7:27 pm

History of the Borg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)

Borg are "made up of organic and artificial life [...] which has been developing for [...] thousands of centuries."

In the graphic novel Star Trek: The Manga, the Borg resulted from an experiment in medical nanotechnology gone wrong. An alien species under threat of extinction by an incurable disease created a repository satellite containing test subjects infused with body parts, organs, and DNA of multiple species along with cybernetic enhancements put in place by advanced medical technology. The satellite was maintained by nanomachines, which also maintained the medical equipment on board. The medical facility is parked in orbit by a black hole, and along with the anomalous states of time around the black hole, allows long-term research to continue at an accelerated time scale rather than in real time speed. The medical facility deteriorates and so too does the programming of the nanomachines. The nanomachines began infusing themselves into the patients, interpreting them as part of the satellite in need of repair. Among the patients is the daughter of the head medical researcher of the satellite. The satellite eventually falls apart in an encounter with an away team from the Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk. In the final moments of the satellite's destruction and the escape of the crew members of the Enterprise with the patients, the subjects display qualities inherently resembling the Borg; injection of nanomachines in a fashion like assimilation, rapid adaptation to weaponry, and a hive mind consciousness, as all the subjects begin following the whim of the daughter. As succumbing to the disease was inevitable, and the corrupt nanomachine programming infused itself into the bodies, the final image of the page of the manga Borg origin is left with the daughter turned Borg Queen, stating, "Resistance is futile."


In the Stargate Universe, we can found the Replicators. It is possible to be considered some kind of Borg ? Because later they evolve, taking human form.

posted on December 26th, 2012, 11:03 pm

they probably use their computers to do normal things, like self assessment tax returns.

I bet its a real pain for the Borg Queen to list all her dependants!

I've never really liked that idea of the origin of the Borg. I've always considered them a very ancient race originally (I say originally, you'll see why) that, as I believe the Borg Queen said or at least hinted at in First Contact, dabbled in cybernetics to improve themselves (I imagine proto-Borg society and physiology to be very much like Deus Ex). Over the years, they became more and more dependent on this technology and became more machine than living being, which lead to their very cold and calculating method of survival and conquest. Of course, there could only be a finite number of original "Borg", who probably never referred to themselves as such at the time, and now those drones no longer exist. Instead the Borg have become a psuedo-race; all their member being biological members of different races.

But alas it's probably not one of those things that is worth looking into. In story writing, it's always best to leave the origin of the "bad guys" a bit of a mystery. Adds to the fear

Regarding their technology, as Myles says it can all be technobabbled away. Myself, i'd figure it was to do with the biological parts of their systems. If you think about it, the Borg are their computers; they all form a sort of huge mainframe. Each Borg Drone cannot function without their biological parts (again First Contact) and so Borg ships are kept warm (I can't remember the exact temperature) to much the same level as a humanoid body to facilitate the biological parts of the system. The mechanical parts are no doubt so efficient that they produce very little waste heat, unlike our primitive systems

posted on December 27th, 2012, 1:44 am

The background or the Borg coming from an encounter with James T Kirk and the Enterprise is just absurdly silly and that graphic novel needs to be completely discounted just like any fanfic is. They are way over in the Delta Quadrant for crying out loud. I really wish that authors would actually put some thought into their storylines before just putting random crap down.

Hell, even Voyagers account of the Borg made more sense.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 4:02 am

oh borg origins...


One game/story states that it is V'ger probe.

The destiny books states it was mix of Caeliar alien ( who where higher beings with some biological wifi net) with a mix of human survivors in the delta quadrant that created the first borg.

Then you have that manga idea of nano technology gone wrong.

And the First contact idea that some race just improved themselves too much.

And then you have that crap idea of the borg being created on earth thanks to crappy writing of ENG

Let's face it. The borg are raped by writers, since none of the writers hold true to any borg concepts. if you compare it the the TNG episodes: The Best of Both Worlds and I,Borg and Voyager borg, Then they are different.

But i am guessing that The borg just let in Space flow into the ship computers to cool them.... Space is damn cold.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 8:31 am

Well, your gaming PC is just getting that hot due the components it has. Passive cooled PCs and Laptops have been, and still are, quite common. Or ever seen a kickass fan in a console? Or your mobile phone?
Anyways, maybe the Borg brains get abused as a cluster computer. Would at least explain all the technobabble about neural transmitters, and why they behave, for such an "improved" race, pretty much brainless all the time.



And back to the off topic:

(First contact / TNG)
though they are portrayed as having existed for hundreds or thousands of years (as attested by Guinan and the Borg Queen).
... which has been developing for [...] thousands of centuries.
...
(Dragons teeth voyager episode)
Vaadwaur says that before he and his people were put into suspended animation 892 years earlier, the Borg were just a few assimilated colonies inside the Delta Quadrant and viewed somewhat like a minor pain.

I would assume they just arrived in "our" part of the universe a few hundred years ago, maybe came from "far far away", and obv. had some data loss with the transition. Without the glorious happy ending Federation, other parts of the universe may have been a bit more unlucky, and got assimilated to the last humanoid.



Anyways, one questions lingers in my brain: why is Q saying "never fuck with the Borg" (or something like that) in a Voyager episode?
Why are the Borg special in this case?

posted on December 27th, 2012, 10:26 am

But i am guessing that The borg just let in Space flow into the ship computers to cool them.... Space is damn cold.

Space does not work that way. opening a compartment to space would allow all the air to flow out, then the components would have zero air cooling. a vacuum can't be cold because temperature is a property of matter. if you put hot computer components in a vacuum they would stay hot, because vacuums don't allow conduction or convection of heat. that's how a thermos works, a vacuum between two flasks.

that's why a fan (not a windmill, windmills do not work that way either) is currently necessary for air cooling of things that are too hot.

Anyways, one questions lingers in my brain: why is Q saying "never fuck with the Borg" (or something like that) in a Voyager episode?
Why are the Borg special in this case?

well the q continuum generally doesn't meddle with us lower beings too much, jdl q is seen as a maverick, a miscreant. i reason that the majority of the q don't like the idea of messing with us lower beings. they don't have any strict rules against meddling (unlike the ancients in stargate), they only starting bothering jdl q when he made that deal and offered to make riker a q as well.

the way i see it, the q just don't want the hassle of messing around with the borg, seeing as the entire collective is one hive mind, the q would need to affect the entire collective simultaneously. also the borg aren't exactly fun, and jdl q enjoys provoking comical reactions, hence why he doesn't enjoy messing with the borg.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 11:48 am

Well, a vacuum still allows radiation of heat, but I grant you that is not very efficient at all.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 12:29 pm

Well, a vacuum still allows radiation of heat, but I grant you that is not very efficient at all.

indeed, as i said, it only prevents conduction/convection. computer components aren't famed for their radiation. maybe that could be a technobabble way of cooling stuff down, force stuff to radiate heat more than we currently think it should.

then again for all we know irl computers do put out enough radiation to kill our sperm, but the sorta people (eg neckbeards like me) who sit at computers all day would never need sperm, and wouldn't ever notice that it's gone.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 1:28 pm

well heat is a form of radiation

posted on December 27th, 2012, 1:52 pm

I doubt Q's problem with the Borg is because they're a hive-mind, probably more about what they actually do when provoked. Q's an asshole, but he's not a sociopath (not that he was concerned during the Borg's intro).

Or that the Borg could screw around with them if exposed to their power enough to figure out how it works.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 4:06 pm

i always thought it strange how the borg refer to earth being in sector 001..

shouldnt there home planet be the starting sector to measure from?

that does suggest they originate from earth.. or the writers just didnt think very hard that day..

posted on December 27th, 2012, 4:40 pm

Unless the Borg label all sections of alien empires in order of assimilation priority, which would put the home sector of the dominant race first.

Though I'm sure that's what the Federation calls the Sol Sector, the Borg might have just picked it up from assimilated Starfleet officers.

posted on December 27th, 2012, 6:00 pm

Indeed im pretty sure the borg picked up the sector 001 from the Enterprise when it downloaded all their data. The Federation from my understanding labels Earth as sector 001 so the Borg are using Federation terminology.