Patent ID: 7310737

Claim:
A cooling system for cooling computer systems, the cooling system comprising: temperature sensors operable to detect heat dissipated by the computer systems; cooling components distributing cooling fluid to the computer systems; at least one circuit operable to determine an aggregate amount of heat dissipated by the computer systems from the temperature sensors and compare the aggregate amount of heat being dissipated by the computer systems to a threshold, wherein the threshold is based on a maximum cooling capacity of the cooling system, wherein the cooling system is designed to cool the computer systems based on a nominal heat dissipation of the computer systems, and the nominal heat dissipation is less than a maximum heat dissipation of the computer systems, wherein the at least one circuit is operable to place at least one electrical component of the computer systems in a lower-power state to reduce heat dissipation in response to the amount of heat being dissipated by the computer systems exceeding the threshold; and the at least one circuit is further operable to compare an amount of cooling fluid being provided to cool the computer systems to an excess cooling threshold to determine if excess cooling fluid is available, and place one or more electrical components of the computer systems in a higher-power state from a lower-power state if excess cooling fluid is available.