Immersion or Direct-to-Chip: A Comparison of the Most Common Liquid Cooling Technologies

Nov. 6, 2024
Which liquid cooling technology is right for your organization? Chris Carreiro, Chief Technology Officer at Park Place Technologies, compares the most common liquid cooling technologies.

With the global data center liquid cooling market reaching nearly $5 billion in 2023 – and projected to reach over $20 billion by 2030 – the race is on to adopt the latest liquid cooling technologies.

However, while organizations understand the overarching benefits of liquid cooling (improved server performance, increased rack density, lower energy costs, reduced water consumption and more), many get bogged down in the seemingly countless types of liquid cooling technologies and specific products (tanks, cold plates, immersion-ready servers etc.) provided by manufacturers.

While all liquid cooling technologies outperform traditional air-cooling (or CRAC), the best choice for you will likely depend on your specific use case – and the performance metrics that are most important to you.  For the sake of brevity, we’ll keep this discussion limited to the most common liquid cooling technologies: immersion and direct, or direct-to-chip cooling.   

Immersion Cooling

With immersion cooling, servers are completely submerged in dielectric (or insulating) fluid placed within a specially designed tank.

In single-phase immersion cooling the fluid is cycled out of the immersion tank by a coolant pump that runs through a heat exchanger and is returned to the immersion tank at a lower temperature where it continues this heat transfer cycle. 

Single-phase immersion cooling is widely used in data centers to reduce energy consumption and enhance sustainability by lowering the carbon footprint associated with traditional air-cooling methods. It is also used in high-performance computing and mining operations (such as cryptocurrency), which generate tremendous heat.

Immersion cooling provides the best performance outcomes of any liquid cooling technology.  It enables the greatest rack densities (up to 10x more than air cooling), drives the best energy efficiencies (up to 50% power savings) and provides the most noise reduction vs. any other option.

In two-phase immersion cooling, heat from immersed server components causes the special immersion fluid to boil. The resulting steam heats a condenser coil in the top of the sealed chamber. The coolant in the condenser coil is cycled out of the chamber to a heat rejection mechanism (cooling tower, etc.). Then, the coolant is sent back to the sealed chamber at a lower temperature, ready to continue the heat transfer cycle.

Two-phase immersion cooling result in an even more efficient heat removal process (2-3X) than single-phase – however they’re more costly, more difficult to maintain, and fluorinated fluids used in two-phase immersion cooling can be harder on the environment.

Use cases for two-phase cooling include IoT and places where space and power availability may be limited.

Direct-to-Chip Cooling

With direct-to-chip (DTC) cooling, coolant runs through a cold plate directly applied to the components that generate the most heat, like CPUs and GPUs. 

In single-phase DTC process, a cooling distribution unit (or CDU) circulates coolant through the cold plate.  The heated fluid is then run through a closed-loop system to a heat exchanger in another location.

Although the performance of DTC cooling is not quite up to the levels reached with immersion cooling, it provides an excellent balance of performance, a relatively lower cost of entry, and easier serviceability.  In fact, DTC applications can be 50 -1000x more efficient than air cooling and result in CPUs and GPUs perform as ceilings into the thousands per chip vs. 200 -300 with air cooling.  On the downside, single-phase DTC can result in fluid leakage which can cause corrosion on motherboards.

As with immersion cooling, two-phase DTC cooling includes a phase change of the coolant resulting in more efficient cooling and allowing for higher power densities.   However, these efficiencies come at the expense of more complex systems that are more difficult to manage and maintain.

DTC is increasingly used in data centers that run artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions; uninterrupted telecommunications activity; and industries that rely heavily on advanced electronics and computing systems.

The Final Analysis

The right liquid cooling technology that’s right for you requires a careful examination of the performance metrics more important to your organization, the budget you have to implement the systems, and your ability to manage and maintain them over time – either internally or via a partner.

About the Author

Chris Carreiro

Chris Carreiro is Chief Technology Officer at Park Place Technologies. Park Place Technologies provides solution and vendor-agnostic, turnkey liquid cooling solutions to companies across the globe. Click here to watch our latest webinar.

Sponsored Recommendations

How Deep Does Electrical Conduit Need to Be Buried?

In industrial and commercial settings conduit burial depth can impact system performance, maintenance requirements, and overall project costs.

Understanding Fiberglass Conduit: A Comprehensive Guide

RTRC (Reinforced Thermosetting Resin Conduit) is an electrical conduit material commonly used by industrial engineers and contractors.

NECA Manual of Labor Rates Chart

See how Champion Fiberglass compares to PVC, GRC and PVC-coated steel in installation.

Electrical Conduit Cost Savings: A Must-Have Guide for Engineers & Contractors

To help identify cost savings that don’t cut corners on quality, Champion Fiberglass developed a free resource for engineers and contractors.

Shutterstock, courtesy of Blueprint Supply Chain
Source: Shutterstock, courtesy of Blueprint Supply Chain

Preventing Loss and Damage to Mission-Critical Gear Within Your Construction Supply Chain

Joey Wagner of BluePrint Supply Chain explains why it's critical to have a reliable quality assurance program and consistent reporting across the entire construction supply chain...

White Papers

Get the full report

The Affordable Microgrid: Securing Electric Reliability through Outsourcing

Feb. 12, 2022
Microgrids, which use controllers to connect multiple power generation and storage sources, can provide electric reliability but they can also be too complex and costly for businesses...