Exotic 3M fluid enables two-phase, immersion-cooled supercomputer

Immersion cooling isn't a new idea. It's been deployed in servers, and I once came across an entire desktop rig plunged in a fish tank full of mineral oil. I haven't seen anything quite like the proof-of-concept "supercomputer" put together by 3M, Intel, and SGI, though. The Ice X system is loaded with Xeon E5-2600 processors and cooled by a special 3M Novec Engineering Fluid that doesn't require pumping.

The official press release offers little insight into the server's compute horsepower. However, it does provide some interesting details on the two-phase cooling system, which submerges hot-swappable modules in the non-conductive 3M ...