Cooling
Every watt a machine draws becomes heat that has to go somewhere — see how cooling works, animated, in the wiki. Here's the right kind of cooling for each machine we sell, and the gear we stock for it.
What your hardware wants
| Hardware | Heat it makes | Ideal cooling | We stock |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | 575 W | Air-cooled (built-in fans) | Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB, Noctua NH-D15 G2 |
| NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell | 600 W | Air-cooled (blower) | Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM, Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB, Noctua NH-D15 G2 |
| NVIDIA H100 (SXM5, 80GB) | 700 W | Passive - server airflow | — |
| NVIDIA B200 | 1,000 W | Passive - server airflow (liquid variants exist) | — |
| NVIDIA DGX H100 | 10,200 W | Air-cooled server | Tripp Lite SRCOOL12K, APC Uniflair InRow RD (ACRD100) |
| NVIDIA DGX B200 | 14,300 W | Air-cooled server (near air's practical limit) | Tripp Lite SRCOOL12K, APC Uniflair InRow RD (ACRD100) |
| NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 | 120,000 W | Liquid-cooled (required) | Vertiv CoolChip CDU 1350 (Liebert XDU1350) |
Cooling gear we stock
Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM
A premium 120mm case fan — the workhorse of a well-ventilated desktop build.
- Moves about 60 CFM of air (this is airflow, not refrigeration)
- The unit itself draws 1.68 W
- $35 — Verified at $34.95 on Newegg (sold by Noctua); street range roughly $30-35.
Pairs with: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell
Source: Newegg listing (price); noctua.at official specs (airflow, power)
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 A-RGB
A 360mm all-in-one liquid cooler for the CPU in a serious workstation.
- 360mm radiator with three fans up to ~77 CFM each
- $105 — Verified at $105.99 on Newegg; deal prices dip to ~$89 and list runs ~$124.
Pairs with: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell
Source: Newegg listing (price); Tom's Hardware deal report (price range)
Noctua NH-D15 G2
Noctua's flagship dual-tower air cooler — top-tier CPU cooling with zero pumps to fail.
- Dual-tower heatsink with two 140mm fans (~92 CFM each)
- $165 — Launch MSRP was $149.95; current Newegg listings run $164.95-$174.95.
Pairs with: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell
Source: Newegg listing (price/specs); Tom's Hardware launch report (MSRP)
Tripp Lite SRCOOL12K
A plug-in portable air conditioner built for server closets and small equipment rooms.
- Moves about 3.5 kW of heat (12,000 BTU/hr, converted in code)
- The unit itself draws 1,250 W
- $1,118 — Verified at $1,117.99 on Newegg; Zoro lists it at $962.99. Typical range ~$960-1,120.
Pairs with: NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX B200
Source: Newegg listing (price, power); Tripp Lite/Eaton official spec sheet (12,000 BTU/hr)
APC Uniflair InRow RD (ACRD100)
A precision cooling unit that stands in the server row and eats rack exhaust heat at the source.
- Moves about 9.9 kW of heat
- Moves up to ~2,290 CFM of air
- The unit itself draws 4,600 W
- $14,000 — Street prices verified at three resellers: $13,367-$15,436 (list prices run up to ~$24,875). We use a mid-street figure.
Pairs with: NVIDIA DGX H100, NVIDIA DGX B200
Vertiv CoolChip CDU 1350 (Liebert XDU1350)
The pumping heart of direct-to-chip liquid cooling — feeds coolant to racks like the GB200 NVL72.
- Moves about 1350.0 kW of heat
- $175,000 — Industry-reported at $150,000-$200,000 per unit (single press source, no public list price) — treat as a reported figure, not a listing.
Pairs with: NVIDIA GB200 NVL72
Source: Vertiv official product page (1,350 kW capacity); liquid-cooling industry deep dive (reported price)
Honest sizing note: matching a cooler to a machine isn't just matching kW numbers — room size, airflow, and what else runs in the space all matter. Treat these pairings as the right starting point, and ask for a quote so we can sanity-check your setup.