After the hardware had been properly mounted and installed, a series of performance tests were initiated to simulate real-world workloads and verify the AIC’s endurance, reliability and suitability for a liquid operating environment.

Performance Evaluation

The SSD7540 performance evaluation consisted of a series of performance benchmarks designed to simulate the client’s real-world application. 

The AIC was tested with two platforms; a “baseline/control” configuration using a standard server that left the standard cooling hardware in place, and a full immersion system designed to match the customer’s projected hardware environment.

The results of each test session would then be compared and contrasted; both transfer and IOPS performance were analyzed, and the SSD7540 was closely examined to check for any damage or degradation.

Test Results

Baseline Performance: The baseline performance of the SSD7540 NVMe AIC Gen4 x16 RAID controller was evaluated under standard air-cooled conditions, using the AIC’s default cooling hardware. Tests were conducted with the SSDs set top operate independently and when configured into a RAID 0, 1 and 10 array. The performance metrics were measured in terms of transfer throughput and thermal performance.

Immersion Cooling Performance: The same metrics were observed while the SSD7540 was installed into the client’s full-immersion server build. 

Results: The comparative analysis between the two cooling methods revealed negligible impact on performance. However, the thermal performance improved significantly: the full-immersion platform benefited from a 15% reduction over the baseline system, highlighting the superior cooling capability of LiquidCool Solution’s immersion technology.

Conclusion

LiquidCool Solutions’ full-immersion cooling system facilitates stable operating temperatures, minimizing temperature fluctuations that can affect performance and stability. NVMe media connected to the SSD7540 benefitted from the significantly improved thermal management and the AIC was able to maintain sustained high performance under load in the liquid-cooled environment.

LiquidCool Solutions determined the SSD7540 is capable of operating in a fully submerged server environment, and exhibited no signs of physical or performance degradation. The SSD7540 was incorporated into the finished solution and is now successfully operating in the field  .

Deploying the SSD7540 in immersion liquid-cooled server rack applications offers significant advantages in thermal performance, stability, and hardware longevity, making it a viable solution for challenging environments. This case study demonstrates that immersion cooling is not only viable but also advantageous for high-performance computing platforms designed to operate in a high-dust, high-temperature environment.

It would be worth mentioning that the immersion configuration was operated without the SSSD7540’s default Hyper-Cooling hardware.  This could be a cost reduction in an immersion version of the SSD7540 and similar RIAD adapters.