Direct-to-chip liquid cooling

Direct-to-chip liquid cooling, also called DLC or D2C, pumps coolant through plates mounted directly on the processors. Supermicro describes cold plates with internal channels attached to the chips, a coolant with high thermal and low electrical conductivity, a pump, and a heat exchanger that moves heat to an external radiator or cooling tower. At rack scale a coolant distribution unit, or CDU, feeds manifolds that serve each server and takes the warm coolant back.

Cold plates do not cover every part, so fans stay. Supermicro claims up to 87 percent heat capture through cold plates, at maximum configuration, for its SYS-422GS-NBRT-LCC, an eight-GPU HGX B200 server with four 80 mm fans sold only with full liquid-cooled rack integration. Its DLC-2 stack claims up to 98 percent capture, a 250 kW in-rack CDU and inlet liquid up to 45 °C. NVIDIA's DGX GB200 and GB300 racks cool compute trays through cold plates, while networking and storage stay air cooled.

Confirm the site can supply liquid before ordering. Check the CDU's kW rating at its stated approach temperature, and the air handling for heat the cold plates miss.

Sources

Last verified October 30, 2026.