Intel and Submer Develop Immersion Cooling for 1000W CPUs

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Intel and Sumber come up with momentous heat dissipation.

Submer
(Image credit: Submer)

The partnership between Intel and Submer, initially announced in early 2022, has finally borne fruit. This week, the two companies unveiled the Forced Convection Heat Sink (FCHS) package designed to cool down chips with thermal design power of 1000W and above. The device promises to be a reliable and cost-effective solution for future datacenter processors with extremely high heat dissipation.

"Many have challenged the technological runway of single-phase immersion cooling," said Daniel Pope, Co-Founder and CEO of Submer. "The Forced Convection Heat Sink is the undeniable proof that immersion is here to compete head-on with other liquid cooling technologies, including Direct Liquid Cooled water-based cold plates."

Intel and Sumber said that the FCHS combines the benefits of forced convection with passive cooling mechanisms and is designed to be integrated seamlessly into existing server and immersion tank setups, ensuring operational continuity and enhanced thermal management in high-performance computing environments. The two companies did not reveal how exactly FCHS operates but said the solution is reliable, cost-effective, and adaptable. Some of its parts can be 3D printed, they said.

To demonstrate the device's potential, Intel and Submer used it to cool down an undisclosed Xeon processor with an over 800W TDP in a single-phase immersion system. The two companies claim that their development is a formidable competitor for liquid cooling solutions. 

"An immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection is a key innovation in taking single-phase immersion cooling beyond the current barriers, allowing single-phase immersion not only to be a solution of today but also a solution of the future," said Mohan J Kumar, Intel Fellow.

The FCHS is scheduled for an official presentation at the OCP Global Summit from October 17 through October 19, 2023. Live demonstrations at the summit are expected to showcase the real-time effectiveness and practical applicability of the FCHS, emphasizing its readiness to meet contemporary and future datacenter cooling needs.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

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7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hedwar2011
    I give it 2 weeks and someone will be trying to mod one of these things into their new gaming RIG.
    Reply
  • edzieba
    hedwar2011 said:
    I give it 2 weeks and someone will be trying to mod one of these things into their new gaming RIG.
    Two weeks, and minus a few decades.
    An 'immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection single-phase immersion cooling" means a regular HSF in an oil-immersion rig qualifies: there's 'forced convection' (fan on heatsink), the system is immersed in the fluid, and the fluid does not boil (so remain a single phase). Even if you want to be picky and demand not using mineral oil (because its sticky and gross, potentially flammable, and has nasty effects on polymers found in common components) and instead use a dedicated immersion cooling fluid like Novec or Fluorinert, then That's still multiple decades ago! And that's just for 'traditional' PC hardware; immersion cooling for mainframes and superconputers stretches back even further (e.g. Cray T90 series).
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    edzieba said:
    Two weeks, and minus a few decades.
    An 'immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection single-phase immersion cooling" means a regular HSF in an oil-immersion rig qualifies: there's 'forced convection' (fan on heatsink), the system is immersed in the fluid, and the fluid does not boil (so remain a single phase). Even if you want to be picky and demand not using mineral oil (because its sticky and gross, potentially flammable, and has nasty effects on polymers found in common components) and instead use a dedicated immersion cooling fluid like Novec or Fluorinert, then That's still multiple decades ago! And that's just for 'traditional' PC hardware; immersion cooling for mainframes and superconputers stretches back even further (e.g. Cray T90 series).
    Man you are such an spoilsport, he was joking about the 1000W just for the CPU part.
    Reply
  • hedwar2011
    edzieba said:
    Two weeks, and minus a few decades.
    An 'immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection single-phase immersion cooling" means a regular HSF in an oil-immersion rig qualifies: there's 'forced convection' (fan on heatsink), the system is immersed in the fluid, and the fluid does not boil (so remain a single phase). Even if you want to be picky and demand not using mineral oil (because its sticky and gross, potentially flammable, and has nasty effects on polymers found in common components) and instead use a dedicated immersion cooling fluid like Novec or Fluorinert, then That's still multiple decades ago! And that's just for 'traditional' PC hardware; immersion cooling for mainframes and superconputers stretches back even further (e.g. Cray T90 series).
    Alrighty!
    TerryLaze said:
    Man you are such an spoilsport, he was joking about the 1000W just for the CPU part.
    Yes indeed! I'm sure someone will step outside the boundaries and try it regardless of risk or cost.
    Reply
  • t3t4
    So there's a cooler all ready for 15th gen I9's.... Cool.
    Reply
  • kanewolf
    edzieba said:
    Two weeks, and minus a few decades.
    An 'immersion heat sink utilizing forced convection single-phase immersion cooling" means a regular HSF in an oil-immersion rig qualifies: there's 'forced convection' (fan on heatsink), the system is immersed in the fluid, and the fluid does not boil (so remain a single phase). Even if you want to be picky and demand not using mineral oil (because its sticky and gross, potentially flammable, and has nasty effects on polymers found in common components) and instead use a dedicated immersion cooling fluid like Novec or Fluorinert, then That's still multiple decades ago! And that's just for 'traditional' PC hardware; immersion cooling for mainframes and superconputers stretches back even further (e.g. Cray T90 series).
    Having worked with liquid cooled Crays, Fluorinert isn't supposed to boil. BUT it can. And when that happens you have to notify the EPA, because you just released the equivalent of 100,000 cans of hairspray propellant .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert#Global_warming_potential
    Reply
  • edzieba
    kanewolf said:
    Having worked with liquid cooled Crays, Fluorinert isn't supposed to boil. BUT it can. And when that happens you have to notify the EPA, because you just released the equivalent of 100,000 cans of hairspray propellant .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorinert#Global_warming_potential
    HFCs: making CFCs look like regular Cs!
    The Crays (and most DIY projects splashing out on HFCs) are single-phase by design, but there are a few who have intentionally chosen the low-boiling-point mixes for low-temperature phase-change use - clamping component temperature to the fluid boiling point. Ideally these are closed loop with a condenser/compressor - usually not for environmental reasons but because the stuff is too danged expensive to run open-loop!
    Reply