Sold on TEC for GPU - any TEC horror stories for GPU/CPU?

[__TRONIK__]

I am pretty much sold on tec cooling, at least for my GPU. I plan on using an 80-92 watt tec with an ATX power supply. I would like to TEC my GPU as well, but it seems trickier. The larger wattages (226) reauire large, generally expensive psu's and introduce a bucketload of heat to the WC loop. But what I am really afraid of is this.

http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/v31/canny/IMGP0039.jpg

can anyone share their horror stories of TEC cooling? I heard quite a few about WC before I did that and it didn't stop me, but I want to know what I am getting into. I have only jsut recently replaced a radeon on which I cut an unfixable trace, I am not looking forward to the prospect of losing a new radeon, my NF7-s and a very cherry barton.

[__TRONIK__]

I also seem to find myself in a bit of a quandry. I feel safe running an 80-92 watt tec on the gpu, mainly because the wattage is low enough that i feel like I could reliably power it for cheap. But I will end up throwing over 100watts of heat into my WC loop. I am running at 2.45ghz and 1.8vcore with a load jsut shy of 40c - and I start to get ancy at 40c. I can imagine that when summer ambient (MB) temps are ~30c that this could become a serious problem. I am quite hooked running at 2.45 and wouldn;t want to have to back down in the summer. This pushes me towards running a 226watt tec on the cpu, but then I must find a decent and cheap PSU for the job, not to mention worry about disaster. as the room warms up, the CPU wpuld dive even further below ambient, and attract more condensation. If my PC were to shut down (crash) and the load were to be removed, wit my tec and WC still running, I have this image of a natural srping forming in my cpu socket. So many things to consider.......

Peltier setups are clearly more difficult to achieve than WC setups - Iwonder if I should be attempting one at all. Kind of a silly question, but can I really expect significant returns on gpu/cpu mhz to justify teh cost/risk? I think 2.6ghz and 500gpu (R9800) would go a long way towards convincing me.

[gusgizmo]

Depending on how well the system is built you can get several hundred extra Mhz out of an AMD cpu, not sure about the gpu though.

For the PSU, have you considered building one yourself? Heck of alot cheaper, and you can build one for whatever your needs are.

edit: I just saw the pic, and that would be probably be caused by power loss to the peltier. When there is no power going to a peltier it becomes an insulator, so watch out. This is a good reason not to emphasize cheap in your considerations for the PSU. You need a good solid psu to power a pelt.

I don't think it would be hard to setup a fail-safe system using a normally closed relay and some wiring to make sure that if the power dies going to peltier, the system immediatly cuts out.

[El<(')>Maxi]

Thats my card and the reason it looks like that is the pelt remained powered while the water pump did not. It worked flawlessly prior to that.

Prior to running the TEC on that card it would run 440mhz core. That was with 1.85v and a very good modified aircooling setup. The other benefit of the TEC was that it eliminated all artifacts. When the card reached it's limit, it would simply freeze up requiring a re-boot.

I should have set it up with a relay, that was my mistake. A relay setup would power everything up when the computer powers up thus avoiding this accident.

If you plan on pelting both the CPU/GPU, your gonna need a big rad to handle it. If I remember correctly, the Swiftech with an 80W pelt puts around 150W into the loop by itself. I ran it on a seperate loop.

The condensation proofing material that comes with the MCW50+T worked just fine. And you will need need dialectric grease around the core before mounting the TEC.

I think to get 500Mhz on the 9800 even TEC cooling would require a voltmod.

[__TRONIK__]

good info - thanks! I guess I would run it on its own loop as well.....not trying to introduce that heat to my CPU even if I tec that as well - especially if I tec that as well! New case I am building has two levels - on the lower, will go either phase changer, or, more likely, 1xATX PSU for CPU/Mobo/Radeon/HDD, 1xATX for fans & lights & CDRW, 1xATX for gpu tec, 1xPSU for cpu tec, 2xH2O Pump, 2xRadiators. (for the seprate loops) Could get crowded down there!

I hope!

It may just have 2xATX psu, and 1xpump&rad

Either way, its gonna look kewl......

[creepy]

so far my "horror" story has been i just bought a tec and the thing wont cool my card for jack sh**

[__TRONIK__]

how many watts was it? did you remember thermal paste on bith sides of tec? is your power sullpy getting it enough amps?

[Wizardmax]

I used to have my AIW 9700 cooled by a swifty 50T that has an 80 watt pelt on it. Let me tell you it is a pain in the rear to properly insukate the thing. I followed all the instructions and even used luberex on the whole area. Still I got condensation that eventually ruined the card. One area shorted out.

My advice is to use RTV sealant or something real extreme to keep it dry. Go to great lengths otherwise you'll end up RMAing the card.

[wannaoc]

...you'll end up RMAing the card.
That just really bothers me that you would even consider sending back a card due to you screwing it up via extreme cooling. :mad: You screwed it up, deal with it.

But as to the topic, I myself am working on building a TEC setup and find myself worried about the same thing. It seems the safest way to ensure any power up problems is via a relay like the one Swiftech sells. But then I worry about how long it takes to get cool while my chip is pushed to the limit and getting hotter by the second.

I'm pretty much over the worry of condensation at this point because I've read so many how-to guides and threads on preventing. I am plannning on using the Dow stuff like DD sells for sealing up my board. From what I've seen it does it better than the normal silicone and much cleaner. The site I read about it is octools.com. They have some good guides on stopping condensation so check them out. Good luck!

[Wicked Klown]

You could always use a rocker switch to turn on the pelt. Just put a temp probe around the GPU or CPU. Turn on the pelt then when it hits the temp you want turn on your rig. Thats how I did it when I was cooling my 1900pally.