Intel demonstrated an experimental case-level liquid cooling solution at the recent Foundry Direct Connect event that provides more efficient cooling for processors.
The company has already created working prototypes of the solution for LGA (Land Grid Array) and BGA (Ball Grid Array) processors, and also demonstrated its use using Intel Core Ultra chips and Xeon server processors.
The new development delivers coolant not directly to the silicon crystal, but to a special compact cooling block located on top of the package and equipped with copper microchannels that precisely direct the flow of coolant. These channels can be oriented to specific areas of the crystal with increased heat generation, improving heat dissipation where it is most important.
The company says the new system can dissipate heat from a chip with a power consumption of up to 1,000 watts using standard liquid coolant. This could be especially useful for high-performance AI workloads, high-performance computing (HPC) tasks, and workstation applications.
The cooling system uses solder or liquid metal TIM (thermal interface material), which provides better thermal contact compared to polymer TIM. According to Intel, this solution allows for 15-20% better heat transfer compared to a traditional liquid cooler installed on a chip without a heat spreader.