Facts

Retrofitting for single-phase immersion cooling does not require significant infrastructure changes, but different levels of integration are possible. At the basic level, racks are replaced by pods while retaining existing power distribution and air-cooling infrastructure. For higher efficiency, CDUs can be connected to an existing or upgraded chilled or warm water loop, increasing power density and freeing up capacity thanks to lower energy consumption. 

Single-phase immersion cooling handles high heat generating components like GPUs and memory modules, while maintaining consistent temperatures throughout the entire server without any fans or complex cold plate arrangements. With single-phase immersion cooling, server lifespan increases while 100% of the heat is efficiently captured in a single body of fluid, leading to the lowest PUE and a the most cost-efficient operation. 

Single-phase immersion cooling is gaining traction because it provides uniform thermal management for all system components, without the hassles of pinpointing hotspots. It consolidates heat in a single body of liquid, offering lower operational costs and facilitating scalability without worrying about airflow bottlenecks. 

Single-phase Immersion Cooling and Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) have similar upfront costs (CAPEX). However, in terms of operational expenses (OPEX), single-phase immersion cooling is the most cost effective. It captures 100% of the heat in a single body of fluid, making its operation highly efficient. In contrast, DLC still relies on inefficient air cooling, which penalises its overall operational efficiency and increases energy costs, ultimately making DLC a more expensive cooling solution.  

With immersion cooling, the server is fully submerged, and the dielectric fluid moves vertically, directly absorbing 100% of the heat from all components – GPUs, CPUs, memory modules, NICs, PSUs. This consistent heat management reduces thermal stress, eliminates issues from fan vibrations, and prevents oxidation, ultimately extending the lifespan of the components. 

Single-phase immersion cooling extends IT hardware lifespan by eliminating thermal, humidity, vibration, and dust-related stress. It prevents common failure points like solder joint fatigue and corrosion. Since heat is evenly dissipated across all components, there are no hotspots or temperature spikes, ensuring stable operation and reducing the risk of premature hardware failures. 

Overall, immersion cooling provides similar or higher compute density compared to DLC. While DLC’s vertical rack form factor may seem advantageous, its partial reliance on air cooling increases the footprint of the cooling infrastructure, offsetting any theoretical benefits. This is why, when evaluating the entire datacenter, single-phase immersion cooling often exceeds DLC in overall power density, thanks to its more efficient operation. 

Single-phase immersion cooling systems are highly flexible and can integrate with both chilled and warm water systems. They operate efficiently even at high fluid temperatures, without requiring cold room environments. This means immersion cooling can coexist with other cooling technologies without imposing limiting conditions on them – in fact, other cooling technologies can limit the benefits of immersion.

No. Immersion cooling eliminates thermal bottlenecks by providing full-system heat dissipation. High TDP chips such as GPUs are efficiently cooled, while 100% of other components – memory modules, VRMs, NICs – benefit from uniform and consistent thermal management. Single-phase immersion cooling ensures complete temperature stability across the entire system, preventing thermal stress and maximizing performance.