Core difference comparison

Dimensions: Liquid Cooling Data Center                                                                                             Air-cooled data center

Cooling medium: Liquids (water, mineral oil, fluorinated fluid, etc.).                                               Water

Cooling method: Liquid directly contacts the heat source or conducts                                           Forced air circulation (air conditioning + fan)

                                   through a cold plate

Cooling efficiency: Very high (the specific heat capacity of liquid is                                                Low, depends on air velocity and temperature gradient

                                      1000-3000 times that of air)

Applicable scenarios: High-density computing (AI, HPC, GPU clusters)                                       Medium and low density servers (traditional IT loads)

Energy consumption: Significantly reduced (PUE can be as low as 1.05-1.2)                              Higher (PUE is usually 1.5-2.0)

Space Occupancy: Compact, supports higher density deployment                                                More space is needed for air circulation

Noise:Low (reduces fan usage)                                                                                                                 

Higher (reliant on large air conditioners and fans)

Environment Dependency: Low sensitivity to external ambient temperature                              Reliance on cold outside air, efficiency drops in hot environments

2. The core advantages of liquid cooling technology

Ultra-high heat dissipation efficiency

① Liquid has a much higher thermal conductivity than air, which can quickly take away the heat of high-power chips (such as CPU/GPU) to avoid performance reduction.

② Cold plate liquid cooling: Directly cool the chip through a metal cold plate, which is suitable for local high heat flux density scenarios.

③ Immersion liquid cooling: The server is completely immersed in insulating coolant (such as vaporized liquid) to achieve full surface heat dissipation, which is suitable for ultra-density deployment.

Significant energy saving and consumption reduction

① Reduce dependence on air conditioning systems, reduce power consumption, and PUE (energy utilization efficiency) can be close to 1.05 (traditional air cooling PUE ≥ 1.5).

②Typical case: After Google adopted liquid cooling, the cooling energy consumption of the data center was reduced by 40%.

Improved space utilization

① The liquid cooling system does not require a large air duct design, the cabinets can be densely arranged, and the computing power per unit space is increased by 30%-50%.

Stronger environmental adaptability

① Liquid cooling is not limited by external temperature and can be deployed in high temperature and arid areas, reducing dependence on natural cold sources.

Noise and stability optimization
① Reduce the use of fans, reduce noise by 20-35 decibels, and improve the working environment.
② The constant temperature characteristics of the liquid can reduce the failure rate of the equipment due to temperature fluctuations.

Support future technological evolution
① Adapt to the kilowatt-level single-chip power consumption requirements of artificial intelligence chips, GPU clusters, etc. (such as NVIDIA H100 power consumption of 700W+).