Alphacool Introduces ES ServerRacks Water Cooling Solutions

[AleksandarK]

Alphacool today introduces three different server racks in 1U, 2U and 4U formats. Alphacool is the first manufacturer to offer server racks that are directly prepared for water cooling components. Previous solutions consisted of expensive and complicated complete solutions from individual manufacturers with external cooling or you could buy corresponding water cooling sets for which you had to subsequently adapt cases.

Alphacool takes a different approach. The enclosures offer a largely classic interior design. However, special and versatile mounting options for reservoirs, pumps and radiators have been taken into account. A special carrier, which is included with every case, offers the possibility of accommodating radiators directly in the case. Further mounting options for the special and optionally available ES Distroplates allow neat hosing in the case. In this way, other components can also be easily integrated with the Alphacool ES quick connectors.



Alphacool offers water cooling sets for all case sizes to match the cases. These are customized for the individual customer and delivered pre-filled. Alphacool also offers Enterprise fans with PWM control in the sizes 40, 80 and 120 mm.

The Alphacool ES water cooling sets are designed for single and dual socket systems and can dissipate heat from 490 to 2400 W depending on the case. All sets are individually designed and can also be expanded with additional coolers for graphics cards or other components.


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[kayjay010101]

All I want is that 4U case but with 16x drive bays to upgrade my NAS, that would make me a very happy camper

 

[EddyAlphacool]

@kayjay010101
2U with 24 drive bays is in work ;-) Also water cooling ready

 

[kayjay010101]

@kayjay010101
2U with 24 drive bays is in work ;-) Also water cooling ready

Aw yeah! That's awesome.
That's 2.5" though, it'd be a bit difficult fitting 24 3.5" slots in a 2U form factor
Please also make a 3.5" 16-bay (or even 24-bay ) 4U chassis!

 

[EddyAlphacool]

Step by step. Next step are 1 and 2U HDD/SSD Serverracks. We are currently starting with what we have the most requests for. Everything else.... is still to come ;-) This is just the beginning.

 

[aktpu]

These seem reasonably priced products that will solve the problem I have at work

 

[ebivan]

But why? Why would someone buy a rack case with an AIO? Why would someone spent so much more on a rack case?

 

[kayjay010101]

But why? Why would someone buy a rack case with an AIO? Why would someone spent so much more on a rack case?

They're not AIOs, they're custom loops.
Reasons as to why someone would go for a solution like this; less noise, better thermals.

 

[EddyAlphacool]

But why? Why would someone buy a rack case with an AIO? Why would someone spent so much more on a rack case?

All customers who come to us simply have the problem of cooling their processors enough so that they don't start throttling. With dual-socket systems with high-performance processors, it is not possible for most of them to generate enough cooling power with air coolers so that the CPUs do not clock down. As a result, they sometimes lose up to 40% of their performance. With water cooling, the CPUs always run at maximum clock speed. Clock. This puts the costs into perspective within a very short time.
This also applies to systems that rely on multiple graphics cards for rendering. We can cool up to 2400W in a 4U enclosure. Especially when using multiple graphics cards, this also ensures maximum boost clock on all cards and thus a significantly higher computing performance in continuous operation, while air-cooled solutions also start to throttle drastically quite quickly. The coolers on the graphics cards do not manage to cool the temperatures in a server rack well enough under continuous full load so that they do not throttle drastically.
We don't develop such things because we want to, but because our customers ask for such solutions ;-)

 

[Jism]

But why? Why would someone buy a rack case with an AIO? Why would someone spent so much more on a rack case?

I used to maintain servers, long long time ago. We had one spare machine that we had to fire up. So i installed a CNPS6000-CU which was very populair back then, mostly for consumer machines, not servers.

You had to screw the fan somewhere very near (usually onto the case) so the cooling was applied. Now in servers you dont have that luxury, so all that was possible was like 7cm in between the heatsink and fan. We fired up the server, installed the OS, went back to home for remote management, the damn thing is not even 10 minutes operational and already signs of overheating CPU.

Bottompoint; servers just need the cooling and noise is'nt usually a problem. The enviroment is usually airconditioned at constant temps; to ensure proper cool air entering the cabinet in where all the servers are housed and proper withdrawl of air at the back. If you use such a rack at home, this thing might be very handy, for those who want a server looking thing or 2U case but without the (extreme) noise a server brings:

Fans just ramp up at 10k rpm. Enough to cut your fingers.

 

[tiled-cpu]

Might as well put a sprinkle in your rack.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Narrow rack so yeah long narrow radiator with a pump already makes a lot of sense seeing better air coolers are way taller than the rack is.

 

[ebivan]

I am still not convinced. I never had heat issues and throttling with my private rack cases. Yes they are loud, but that is to be expected.

 

[claes]

Liquid cooled data centers have been a thing for well over a decade thanks to Asetek... Nowadays they are literally putting data in the ocean to keep it cool (see Google). It’s not like components have gotten cooler, or that demand has decreased.

 

[ebivan]

Liquid cooled data centers have been a thing for well over a decade thanks to Asetek... Nowadays they are literally putting data in the ocean to keep it cool (see Google). It’s not like components have gotten cooler, or that demand has decreased.

Yes, where the liquid ist actually used to move the heat out of the racks (tubes transport hot liquid away from the racks, meaning there are no radiators close). This way you can save a lot of rack space that would otherwise be used for coolers and can even make use of the heat within the liquid.
But this kind of all in one solution still shoves out hot air at the rear of the rack, as regular air coolers do too, this is in no way comparable to the Asetek solution.

 

[Caring1]

The correct term is "cooled" not cooling.
The latter implies the server is cooling the water, not the water is cooling the server.
Either way I doubt water is used and it should also be renamed liquid cooled.

 

[fb020997]

I used to maintain servers, long long time ago. We had one spare machine that we had to fire up. So i installed a CNPS6000-CU which was very populair back then, mostly for consumer machines, not servers.

You had to screw the fan somewhere very near (usually onto the case) so the cooling was applied. Now in servers you dont have that luxury, so all that was possible was like 7cm in between the heatsink and fan. We fired up the server, installed the OS, went back to home for remote management, the damn thing is not even 10 minutes operational and already signs of overheating CPU.

Bottompoint; servers just need the cooling and noise is'nt usually a problem. The enviroment is usually airconditioned at constant temps; to ensure proper cool air entering the cabinet in where all the servers are housed and proper withdrawl of air at the back. If you use such a rack at home, this thing might be very handy, for those who want a server looking thing or 2U case but without the (extreme) noise a server brings:

Fans just ramp up at 10k rpm. Enough to cut your fingers.

Regarding cutting fingers…. I had an ”intimate contact” between my left pinky finger and a 3000rpm 120mm fan running at full tilt. Around 10 years ago, when I was around 13, I built a PC for various leftover bits and pieces (Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 7600GT) in a quasi-server case I don’t even remember where I found it, and put an awful lot of high power fans I found tearing down various electronic devices. As my dad worked and still works in a telco, he brought home lots of various broken equipment, and since I was around 4 I spent a lot of afternoons tearing them down, since I always had a passion for tearing down and rebuilding stuff for understanding how they work. One of those included that beastly fan. I was trying some ducting inside that case for lowering temps even further, because I was trying to OC it within an inch of its life) with the fan at full tilt, when accidentally my pinky went in contact with the fan, I don’t know/remember how. Thankfully I “only” lost the fingernail, since a blade went under it and not an entire part of that pinky… It was the most painful thing it ever happened to me. That finger still hurts at the thought of it.

TL;DR: stay the f*ck away from turned on high-RPM fans, or your fingers and nails will suffer

 

[EddyAlphacool]

@ebivan
We have similar solutions like Asetek. But we have a lot of customers who want exactly such solutions. Especially in the 1 and 2U sector. The complex structures of a solution where the heat is conducted outside are not in demand here because they are too expensive. On the other hand, there are of course also enquiries about cooling solutions via a chiller and the like. But these are all special solutions that we customise and manufacture. The products presented here are series products.

BTW: Asetek was one of the last on the market with Server Solutions. Some other brands was much earlier on the market with similar solutions. But they never invested much in advertising. Therefore, the solutions are not very well known to the public, although some of them dominate the market.