what is peltier?

[tainice]

i am just wondering what is peltier and how does it work? i know it is for cooling, and since the price of it is not so expensive, i would like to get my hand on it. however, before i do so, i need to know how does it work, any damager involves when using one compares to a traditional heatsink and fan? and which one is more suitable for ocing?

[Coolio]

A peltier basically is cold on one side and hot on the other. Most people put a heatsink fan on their pelitier (on the hot side, cold side is on the cpu). They can also be used to cool your water if you are using water cooling.

Caution when using it on a CPU:(condensation only forms when hot air hits a cold surface) Your ambient temp is most likely above the temp of the cold side of the pelitier. SO condensation is likely. Many people put foam around their pelitier to absorb the condensation.

[Christoph]

Also, pelts suck up power like nobody's business. Here's a link to a [H]ardforum page (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168521) with every sort of useful computer link imaginable, including some for pelts. There are even some links for pelt power supplies, but I'm not sure how necessary they are.
Depending on how much pelt power you want, make sure that you've got a big beefy PS.

[Colin]

Some links on pelts to help you learn.

Applying Peltiers (http://www.heatsink-guide.com/applying-peltiers/)

Peltiers in Practice (http://www.dansdata.com/peltprac.htm)

Picking a Pelt (http://www.dansdata.com/pelt.htm)

Kryotherm Pelt
Software (http://www.kryotherm.spb.ru/index.htm)