Fanless liquid-cooled AI servers use liquid to remove heat from more of the server than a conventional cold-plate setup, so fans are not needed for the server’s relevant cooling path. That does not mean the rack or data center has no pumps, fans, or other moving equipment. The key buying distinction is how much of the server is liquid-cooled, what air cooling remains, and whether the facility can handle the resulting heat and water flow.
What “fanless” means in an AI server
In this context, fanless describes the server cooling design—not a completely silent or pump-free data center. A system may rely on liquid cooling across its heat-producing components and still require pumps, coolant distribution units (CDUs), rack-level heat rejection, and facility equipment. Some of those systems may themselves use fans.
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The phrase also depends on cooling coverage. HPE describes an eight-layer approach spanning GPU, CPU, blade, storage, network fabric, rack or cabinet, pod or cluster, and CDU. Lenovo describes its full-system direct-water cooling as covering all components, including power supplies, for fanless operation. Those are vendor descriptions of their designs, not independent proof that every configuration sold under a product family is fanless.
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How fanless direct liquid cooling differs from other designs
| Approach | How heat is removed | What “fanless” means here |
|---|---|---|
| Fanless direct liquid cooling | Liquid removes heat across a broad portion of the server; the extent of coverage varies by design. | The relevant server cooling path does not rely on server fans. Pumps and facility cooling equipment may still be required. |
| Hybrid direct liquid cooling | Cold plates cool selected hot components while fans cool components or areas not covered by liquid. | Not fanless: server fans remain part of the cooling design. |
| Liquid-to-air cooling | A heat exchanger uses chilled facility water to cool air circulated through the server. | Liquid is part of the heat-rejection path, but that does not by itself make the server fanless. |
| Immersion cooling | Server equipment is immersed in a cooling fluid as part of a separate deployment approach. | Do not treat immersion as a synonym for fanless direct liquid cooling; the cited vendor material does not establish that the named immersion systems are fanless AI servers. |
HPE’s solution page describes fanless and hybrid direct liquid cooling as different options. It states support for up to 400 kW per rack for fanless DLC and up to 200 kW per rack for hybrid DLC. These are HPE’s stated capacities, not universal limits or a guarantee for a particular rack; the supported configuration and facility design matter.
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Which AI servers are described as fanless or liquid-cooled?
HPE Cray Supercomputing EX2500 and EX4000
HPE’s solution overview labels the EX2500 as using 100% fanless direct liquid cooling and associates the EX systems with scientific research, simulation, large-scale deep-learning training, and predictive analytics. The overview also describes the EX4000 as a large-scale system, but does not establish that every EX4000 blade configuration is fanless. Confirm the exact system and blade configuration with HPE before treating it as a fanless deployment.
HPE ProLiant Compute XD685
HPE’s overview describes the XD685 as an eight-GPU, 5U system for natural-language processing, large language model, and multimodal training, with direct liquid cooling available as an option. That does not establish that the system is inherently fanless; ask which cooling configuration is included in the proposed build.
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Lenovo ThinkSystem SD650 V3 and SD665-N V3 Neptune
Lenovo identifies both as Neptune server platforms and describes full-system direct-water cooling that covers all components, including power supplies, for fanless operation. The statement applies to Lenovo’s full-system cooling mode; verify that the specific model and configuration being quoted uses that mode rather than assuming every Neptune configuration does.
Dell PowerEdge XE9780L
Dell markets the XE9780L as a liquid-cooled AI server and lists configurations with eight NVIDIA HGX B300 GPUs or eight HGX B200 GPUs. The cited product information does not establish that the XE9780L is fanless, so classify it as liquid-cooled unless Dell confirms the proposed configuration’s fan and cooling coverage.
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What vendor savings and capacity figures do—and do not—show
HPE’s October 10, 2024 announcement says fanless DLC reduces cooling power required per server blade by 37% compared with hybrid DLC alone. The same announcement attributes to HPE CEO Antonio Neri a claim of 90% lower cooling power consumption compared with traditional air-cooled systems. Both figures are vendor claims with different comparison baselines; neither is an independent, cross-vendor test or a universal estimate for total data-center energy.
Lenovo’s page cites up to 40% energy savings in its sixth-generation Neptune cooling context, but the comparison baseline is not sufficiently clear to use that percentage as a general estimate. For a purchasing decision, request measured whole-system energy under the same workload and define the measurement boundary: server, rack, or facility.
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The available vendor materials do not establish comparable independent results for energy use, acoustics, reliability, water consumption, or total cost across these systems. A fanless server therefore should not be assumed to make an entire facility silent, use less water, or cost less to operate.
What to verify before specifying a rack
Cooling a high-density AI system is a facility-design decision as well as a server purchase. HPE notes that the selected cooling type must match design and facility capabilities. Request a configuration-specific plan that answers these questions:
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- Compute configuration: Which workload, accelerator model and count, CPU, memory, networking, and software stack are included? Product families and GPU configurations are not interchangeable.
- Cooling coverage: Which components are cooled by liquid, and which—if any—still depend on server fans? Is the proposed system full-system direct water cooling, component-level DLC, or a hybrid?
- Rack and heat rejection: What rack-level capacity is supported for the exact build? What CDU capacity, heat-rejection equipment, redundancy, and service arrangements are required?
- Facility readiness: What water temperature and flow does the design require, and can the facility provide them reliably? What power and infrastructure changes are needed?
- Monitoring and service: How are flow, temperature, and cooling faults monitored? Who maintains the server-side and facility-side equipment, and how is service handled during a fault?
- Economics and evidence: Compare total cost and measured energy using the same workload, operating conditions, and system boundary. Ask vendors to document their baselines and assumptions rather than comparing headline percentages.
Confirm current availability, accelerator options, and cooling specifications with the vendor for the exact configuration under consideration. Product pages and solution overviews may not establish every current build option.
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