Intel Preps 2000W Coolers for Future Chips

Intel oil immersion cooling
(Image credit: Intel)

Intel researchers are working on novel solutions to cool next-gen chips up to 2000W. The iconic x86 chipmaker already threw its weight behind immersion cooling a few years back. However, the march of Moore’s Law and increasing chip densities means Intel is now busy looking to adapt/augment its best cooling technology with “new materials and structures.”

Cooling is a very serious business, especially in the data center. Improvements to cooling efficiency can significantly impact the bottom line of a data center operator. Powerful processors will chew through the lion’s share of watts, but research suggests cooling accounts for up to 40% of a facility’s power consumption. Better cooling could also allow chips to run faster.

Tantalizingly, Intel says that it will be working closely with innovative cooling technology companies on solutions that “seem squarely in the realm of science fiction.” It doesn’t name names, but the clues are big enough for us to have an educated guess about two of its major collaborators.

Coral-like Structures, Tiny Liquid Jets

One of the new cooling solutions is said to be based on technology “like 3D vapor chambers embedded in coral-shaped heat sinks.” This sounds like it could be a collaboration with Belgium’s Diabatix, which specializes in heatsinks and cold plates created by a generative design software platform. The results look highly organic, like coral growth, and the structures make for ultra-low thermal resistance.

Intel also mentions that a partner has technology that features “tiny jets, adjusted by artificial intelligence, that shoot cool water over hot spots in the chip to remove heat.” Again, Intel doesn’t name any names, but the technology sounds very similar to that championed by MIT spinoff JetCool. This Massachusetts-based firm also fits the brief of providing integrated die-cooling technology for “exceptional” performance.

Elsewhere in its blog about potential new cooling technologies, Intel mentions it is looking closely at cooling technologies utilizing 3D vapor champers, advanced materials, and boiling enhancement coatings. This work is “existentially important for our future,” said Tejas Shah, lead thermal architect for Intel’s Super Compute Platforms group.

Cooling isn’t all about efficiency and saving energy, though. Intel asserts that new cooling technology has the potential to enable processors to run at lower temperatures and thus deliver “a 5% to 7% increase in performance for the same power.”

Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • Order 66
    Finally, something that might cool a 13900k without resorting to liquid nitrogen.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    jaydenmiller1 said:
    Finally, something that might cool a 13900k without resorting to liquid nitrogen.
    That would be funny if you couldn't cool a 13900k with unlimited power settings enough to get within 8W of the full performance with a $20 cooler.

    The $20 Assassin 120 R SE sustained 5055MHz (an increase of 333MHz) with the CPU consuming an average of 245W.

    https://www.tomshardware.com/features/intel-core-13900k-cooling-tested/2
    Reply
  • salgado18
    jaydenmiller1 said:
    Finally, something that might cool a 13900k without resorting to liquid nitrogen.
    I still think it would trottle down under load.
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    Why do I get the feeling that Intel's goals are opposite of what the rest of the industry wants to do.
    Reply
  • rluker5
    If I could buy an Intel AIO that could cool 500w I would be all over that.
    I wouldn't run it at 500w often, but it would be nice to when I wanted. Kind of like flooring the gas on a 500hp car.

    Edit: I might even get two so I could strap one to my GPU. Nothing wrong with making cooling better.
    Reply
  • Leptir
    Since the recommended max for a US household outlet is 1500W, I guess your next Intel PC will go in the garage next to the tumble dryer. :p
    Reply
  • Sippincider
    Leptir said:
    Since the recommended max for a US household outlet is 1500W, I guess your next Intel PC will go in the garage next to the tumble dryer. :p

    Indeed. Going forward are we really going to need 30+amp outlets to run our freaking PCs?

    If there's a practical limit to how much power a chip can draw (and how much heat it produces), Intel appears determined to find it.
    Reply
  • rluker5
    I'm in the US and my pc is plugged into a 20A, 2400w outlet.
    You are also supposed to have 20A circuits in the living room, dining room and kitchen, but you can also have them in other places so long as everything ( breaker, wiring, outlet ) is rated for that.
    Reply
  • YSCCC
    2000W? This literally will burn your wallet just by turning on, burn your house due to power strip limit and burn you cola use it generate more heat than most home air conditioning can do..
    Reply
  • Steve Nord_
    Admin said:
    Intel hints that it will be next-gen chips up to 2000W
    About time, esp. with the 3090 that already need 2kW on tap, home labs that run solar, heat pumps, some geoloops and unlocked-specials Xeons can foster future startups. Not to say solvents esp. suited to those jet coolers aren't better at it by 40%, it wouldn't suck to have a water still of some sort pc-adjacent either (especially if there were waste stream separation for nanoparticles you do and don't want to add back.

    Sometime the 'usual home mods' cold cellar, water caisson, geoloop, elevator, reinsulation and PC inverter/flow battery rooms have to see integration, right?
    Reply