first attempt at peltiers...

I wanna try out the use of peltiers without spending a lort of money. I was thinking about using a 72watt pelt off ebay connected to a 12volt molex. i just wanna try em out, no extreme cooling...(its gonna be used on a Radeon 9000 Pro). Is it really necessary to have a cold plate in between the gpu and pelt? also, wuts the best way to prevent condensation? any help appreciated. thx.

You need a cold plate so that the pelt has full contact with something. Otherwise, the exposed edges are going to make it almost useless because you'll lose the efficiency. As far as insulating, check out this thread http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204513&highlight=condensation+spray and this article http://www.phase-change.com/index.php?action=Articles_page&cat=Guides&id=25&page=1

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the info i wasnt gonna buy a cold plate but now it looks like i got to.