How to Choose a Server CPU Cold Plate: 7 Key Factors
Server CPU power keeps climbing with every generation. Top-end parts like the Intel Xeon 6980P and AMD EPYC 9965 are already rated at 500W, and AMD’s new EPYC 9006 series pushes the SP7 platform to as much as 600W. In 1U servers and multi-node chassis, air cooling has little headroom left, so more and more […]
How to Choose a Server GPU Cold Plate: 7 Key Factors
GPU power keeps climbing with every generation of AI servers. In dense 8-GPU systems, air cooling is running out of headroom, and more of the heat now has to be handed off to liquid right at the GPU package. That makes the cold plate one of the parts that decides whether the whole server runs […]
How to Prepare an RFQ for a Custom Cold Plate: A Complete Checklist
Custom cold plate RFQs often don’t get a quote on the first pass. More often, the reply that comes back isn’t a price. It’s a list of questions. What’s the contact area of each heat source? What’s the coolant inlet temperature? How much pressure drop can the loop afford? Do you need helium leak testing? […]
What Is a Direct-to-Chip Cold Plate? Anatomy, Types & How It Cools AI Servers
GPU and AI accelerator power keeps climbing with every generation. For high-TDP chips packed into dense 1U and 2U chassis, bigger heatsinks and faster fans are running out of room, which is why more servers are moving to liquid cooling. At the heart of that shift is the direct-to-chip (D2C) cold plate, which hands heat […]
Top 10 Liquid Cold Plate Manufacturers in China: A 2026 Engineering Buyer’s Guide
Introduction Power curves on AI servers and high-density compute cards have gone almost vertical over the past two years, and it’s pushing more buyers than ever to compare liquid cold plate manufacturers in China, where most of this supply chain is concentrated. A single GPU or AI accelerator now runs hot enough to push past […]
Cold Plate Design: Materials, Flow Channels, and Engineering Trade-Offs Explained
Chip power densities have climbed at a startling pace over the past two years, and cold plate design has moved from a specialty concern to a mainstream engineering problem as a result. AI accelerators and high-performance GPUs that once dissipated a few hundred watts now routinely exceed 1,000 watts, and some next-generation parts are approaching […]
How Cold Plates Are Manufactured: A Complete Process Guide
As AI server racks push past 100kW, air cooling alone can no longer carry the thermal budget, and more data center and HPC teams are turning to liquid cold plates. But for the engineers and buyers doing the sourcing, the hard part usually isn’t deciding to go liquid — it’s understanding how that seemingly simple […]
What Is Liquid-Assisted Air Cooling? A Complete Guide for Data Center Operators
Rack power density has outpaced facility upgrades at most data centers over the past two years, and it’s pushing more operators toward liquid-assisted air cooling (LAAC) as a way to close the gap. When a GPU training rack jumps from the low teens into the 40-50kW range or higher, traditional room-level air cooling (CRAC/CRAH) simply […]
What Is a Liquid Cooling Manifold? A Complete Guide for Data Center Engineers
Over the past two years, AI training and inference clusters have pushed rack power density past what traditional air cooling can handle. Racks running at 50kW, 100kW, or higher are quickly becoming the norm. As operators and system integrators scramble to keep up, two components dominate the conversation: the CDU (coolant distribution unit) and the […]
What Is an Open-Loop Liquid Cooling Module? A Complete Guide
If you’ve started shopping for liquid cooling modules for a server, workstation, or custom electronics build, you’ve probably run into the term “open loop.” For a lot of engineers and procurement teams, that phrase brings to mind data center cooling towers — big, water-hungry systems that vent heat straight into the atmosphere. Understandably, that association […]