System and method for cooling an electronic component

A method of cooling at least one electronic circuit component mounted on a hardware unit within a computer chassis, the method comprising:

• placing at least one heat conducting element into thermal contact with the electronic component;
• mounting a heat exchanger in a preconfigured hardware unit slot of the computer chassis;
• and
• selectively providing working fluid from the heat exchanger to the at least one heat conducting element to facilitate dissipation of heat from the respective electronic component.

A computer system comprising:

• at least one modular circuit board, each modular circuit board carrying at least one integrated circuit chip;
• a computer chassis having a plurality of preconfigured circuit board slots dimensioned and configured for receiving modular circuit boards, the at least one modular circuit board being mounted in a corresponding one of the plurality of circuit board slots;
• at least one heat sink having a heat sink inlet port in fluid communication with a heat sink outlet port, the at least one heat sink being in thermal contact with a respective integrated circuit chip on the at least one modular circuit board;
• a heat exchanger mounted in another one of the plurality of preconfigured circuit board slots, the heat exchanger having a heat exchanger inlet port in fluid communication with a heat exchanger outlet port;
• and
• a working fluid circulating in a cooling loop that extends between the heat exchanger and the heat sink;
• the heat exchanger removing heat from the working fluid in cooperation with the cooling loop to dissipate heat from the respective integrated circuit chip.