High Performance Scientific Computing typically involves many "clusters" of processors that are close connected. This results in high energy dissipation in tightly compacted areas creating high heat intensity. As these "machines" continue to evolve, cooling requirements become more challenging and the total electrical power requirements more resemble large industrial facilities than typical buildings. Compounding the complexity of the HVAC design is the fact that these computers may be designed for air or liquid cooling. A new computational facility under design for the University of California in Berkeley, CA is such a center that is being designed to accommodate either air or liquid cooling.

This paper describes the unique design features of this center whose goals included both being a model of high performance computing and a showcase for energy efficiency. The mild climate in Berkeley provides an ideal opportunity to minimize energy use through the use of free cooling but traditional data center approaches could not fully take advantage of the mild climate to save energy. A design that utilizes outside air for cooling for all but a few hundred hours per year is described. But in addition, there was a desire to provide for the eventual transition to liquid cooling–in various possible configurations. This capability is also described.

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