Intel Testing Oil Immersion Cooling for Its Servers

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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This could be misconstrued as nerd and geek porn in some circles:D Intel has been running an experiment for the past year on the feasibility and economy of cooling of total emersion oil cooling. The end result of the study is a resounding ‘yes’ on all counts. It works, it’s much cheaper and by the way Intel, it’s tres cool. :D
 
Hurray Intel is finally catching up to what people have been doing with fish tanks and a bottle of mineral oil for years now!
 
I heard it's pretty bad; oil getting between the heatsinks and the processors, displacing thermal paste and whatnot.

It's only effective if you have someone drop a block of dry ice in there every once in a while.
 
The robots always seem to adopt immersion cooling before they take over.
I'm just saying.
 
ggplay said:
I heard it's pretty bad; oil getting between the heatsinks and the processors, displacing thermal paste and whatnot.

It's only effective if you have someone drop a block of dry ice in there every once in a while.
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Not sure if trolling.

The oil is usually pumped through a radiator where it is cooled before going back into the case/tank.

It doesn't seem like you read the article either because Intel said they ran the servers for a year without any issues to the components.
 
I wonder if one day phones and tablets could be sealed up with oil in them too? I think that might be a good idea if you don't mind a little extra weight.
 
niconx said:
I wonder if one day phones and tablets could be sealed up with oil in them too? I think that might be a good idea if you don't mind a little extra weight.
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Are you at all familiar with thermodynamics? In a word, impractical.
 
Can't wait for the scores of complaints when it comes to replacing faulty components and the joy that is plastic rot when immersed in oil for long enough periods of time.
 
w4ffles said:
Not sure if trolling.

The oil is usually pumped through a radiator where it is cooled before going back into the case/tank.

It doesn't seem like you read the article either because Intel said they ran the servers for a year without any issues to the components.
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Yes they can do that, but if they do that, then why not just watercool?
I doubt the temps will be any better.
 
ggplay said:
Yes they can do that, but if they do that, then why not just watercool?
I doubt the temps will be any better.
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Because oil is non-conductive and they're probably close to just taking a stock server, putting it in a look proof bucket and flooding it with oil. No special machined blocks, hoses and clamps. Those would actually get in the way.

I would not want an oil filled case in my house. I can't think of anywhere in my house I would risk one of those springing a leak, including my basement.
 
techrat said:
Can't wait for the scores of complaints when it comes to replacing faulty components and the joy that is plastic rot when immersed in oil for long enough periods of time.
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Most modern thermoplastics don't rot when in contact with mineral oil like this.
 
how hard would it be to create something like from the movie sunshine? (the servers that were submerged in liquid that was super super cold) and would it be cost effective?
 
Methadras said:
Most modern thermoplastics don't rot when in contact with mineral oil like this.
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Modern plastics on common cables used for consumer products will still rot. The oil itself will rot, too. Installing a card or more ram into a server? Someone's gotta pull the rack and get wet. Cleanup would be a bitch. How do you do that for something that may need to be shipped?

Seems to be a case of needlessly complicating a setup for what would cause more headaches in the end.
 
Imaulle said:
how hard would it be to create something like from the movie sunshine? (the servers that were submerged in liquid that was super super cold) and would it be cost effective?
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I remember wanting 3M's Flourinert way back in the day and that stuff was hella expensive.
 
techrat said:
Modern plastics on common cables used for consumer products will still rot. The oil itself will rot, too.
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Mineral oil is a highly processed highly stable petroleum product that has no shelf life, expiration date and does not "rot."

There are many non-organic plastics that do not react to mineral oil.
 
Looks like it takes a lot of space to run your servers like this. Makes more sense for large datacenters to move north and use outside air cooling... maybe this would be good for a small server farm at the corporate office
 
3M demonstrated this over here a couple of years ago. It was an LGA-1156 system, i5 760 iirc, The motherboard was Asus.
 
techrat said:
Modern plastics on common cables used for consumer products will still rot. The oil itself will rot, too. Installing a card or more ram into a server? Someone's gotta pull the rack and get wet. Cleanup would be a bitch. How do you do that for something that may need to be shipped?

Seems to be a case of needlessly complicating a setup for what would cause more headaches in the end.
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I take it you've never really worked on a car before. Being covered in clean oil is pretty damn easy to clean. It's road grime and grease that is hard to clean. Cleaning the part is easy enough with some alcohol.
 
They have used this kind of cooling for many years int the military. We have equipment from the 70s that used a pressurized oil system to keep components cool.

The issue is weight, space, and the mess of adding/changing equipment.

For servers in a large farm this might work, but for home use its just not practical.
 
this makes it easier to cook your lunch in the data center too... sweat potato fries mmmm
 
German Muscle said:
3M Novec 7000 > Oil. Far superior and no mess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_X_hgtlJpA
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Isn't this the stuff they use in fire sprinkler systems in server rooms / places that can afford it? I know that the Springfield, MO Ozarks Technical Community college overhauled their entire sprinkler system (facility-wide, not just server room) with stuff like this. A few years ago there was a tech expo here demonstrating 'this' liquid that behaved like water but wasn't conductive. They were dipping things from laptops to monitors to cell phones into the liquid while using them/being in operation.
 
ktk said:
lube me up baby...um i mean my rig
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Nice! Really the cost and maintenance of a full size oil vat is expensive. Cheap to use a raised floor and pipe tons of air in.

Every generation, CPUs get faster and use less power.
 
This is awesome but it does seem to take up a lot of room. Also hardware replacement must be nightmare.
 
I bet you this would make data centers quieter. Would be nice to be in a server room and be able to hear the person you're talking to without them shouting.
 
zaniix said:
They have used this kind of cooling for many years int the military. We have equipment from the 70s that used a pressurized oil system to keep components cool.

The issue is weight, space, and the mess of adding/changing equipment.

For servers in a large farm this might work, but for home use its just not practical.
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You see this sometimes in the civilian world too. Some of the older high current VFD's (variable frequency drive) used oil immersion cooling. Rare, but it was done. I have also seen air and water cooled system. Air being the most common, as it requires very little in additional engineering to make work.
 
Great idea, hope this becomes more widespread for data centers.
 
...do they submerge the hard drives as well? I don't see how that would work.
 
ziggo0 said:
...do they submerge the hard drives as well? I don't see how that would work.
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No, spinners need to breathe, and submerging them would kill them quickly. Now you could chunk you SSD's in there with no fuss. Like the poster above me, I'd love to see a balls out bad ass fucking monster submerged in some of this shit just to see what would happen, and how well it worked.

Hey Kyle, look slick, I know you have money and this is after all [H]ardOCP - make this shit happen for our amusement. :D
 
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