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Liquid Cooling Can Prevent A Data Center Melt Down: Page 2 of 3

Liquid cooling has been widely used with mainframe computers and supercomputers, but so far it hasn't made many inroads into the small-server market. That may change: processors are generating more and more heat, and disk drives are hotter as they spin faster and the air friction inside the head-disk assembly generates more heat. So it may be that there's a liquid-cooled computer in your data center's future.

If you Google "liquid cooling computer," you'll get almost 500,000 returns, most of which aren't suitable for your particular needs. For example, the Apple PowerMacG5 computer uses liquid cooling, the entry says. You can see what Apple says about its liquid cooling here. Other liquid cooling systems seem to be aimed at game players who are severely over clocking their systems.

But there are some server solutions available and in the works. Schaller touts two products from Rittal, and says he knows of other manufacturers who are working on liquid cooling systems, and he expects to see them in the market within about six months.

The basic principle in liquid cooling is to employ a liquid to remove heat, just as with a car radiator. Because of the greater density of the liquid than air, the liquid is much better at heat transfer than is air. Schaller says that water, in particular, can have as much as 1,000 times the heat transfer of air, given similar fluid flows and time.

Schaller's products include the Power Cooling System, which delivers liquid directly to a processor heat sink. This one requires piping inside a case or rack, of course, so the company is dicussing it with the large system OEMs, who, presumably, will offer a liquid cooling option on their energy-gulping servers.