Peltier Cooling

[jonnymooshoo]

I'm planning on redoing my watercooling setup and I need some advice.
Can anyone tell me if there will be any significant gains with peltier/watercooling as opposed to my current setup (see below). I am thinking of a 156W peltier with a swiffy MCW462, the new BeCooling tank/pumps, and the BeCooling Aquacube radiator. Will I need to get a separate power supply for my peltier or will it be able to run on the same powersupply (450W Enermax). If I do need a separate powersupply, what are the minimum specs? How about condensation? I have acryllic conformal coating, but what are the tried and true ways of preventing condensation? Bottom line... IS IT WORTH THE TROUBLE??? or should I stick with the plain old watercooling. This is all going in a yy-02221 server cube.

Thanks for the help! :D

[Maximus Nickus]

I would stick with normal watercooling, the more complex it is then the more that can go wrong.
Also you've then got to cope with condensation (look at two new ways to beat condensation in this forum) but you would also probably need a whole power supply to run it! And if it has diff amps than your peltier requires then you can blow the PSU. Not worth it unless you want some serious cooling.
But then why not choose Vapochill?
Hope this helps.

[jonnymooshoo]

But how much trouble is it really? Is there anyone out there who has or is currently running a peltier cooled system? What are the performance gains? How hard is it to beat condensation?

On another note, anyone checked out these guys? http://www.silverprop.com/ they seem to have high quality stuff. Oh and is 156W peltier overkill or necessary?

[Intraveinous]

You will need a separate PSU for the Peltier, something with 12-15V and 14-20Amps. As far as preventing condensation, use dialectric gel, or petrolium jelly in the CPU socket, closed cell foam under and around the socket, and around the peltier/ coldplate/ waterblock assembly. An MCW462 should be fine and the other components should be fine.
Hope this helps
Peace
John

edit: a 156Watt is the minimum I would use, if not a 172W, though you may need a little bit bigger PSU for it... Remember that Watts = Volts x Amps, so 156Watts at 12V is 13Amps, 172 is 14.3Amps. It never hurts to have a bit of headroom, and whatever is not needed will not be used. I would probably look for a 15V, 20Amp PSU for safety...
Peace
John

[Warlord2]

from what I can tell AMD is trying to make there cpus put out less heat so 156watt should be just fine for the XP's+

but 172watt should would be very nice to have sense you will never have to worry about heat problems again

[Intraveinous]

True, but He's not putting it on an XP yet, he's got a 1.4 @ 1623 or close, so that's puttin out quite a bit of warmth.. :D
John

[jonnymooshoo]

Thanks for your help guys! Hmm.. well it looks as if peltier cooling is not as difficult as I first thought. The extra powersupply needed is a bummer but understandable. Good job this is all going in the server cube so there's enough space. Any ideas on how much more performance I can squeeze out of this chip? it's a AHYJA stepping. Oh and where can I get a 172Watt peltier?

[Warlord2]

172watt can be found a www.dangerden.com and you can find some pretty cheap powersupplies from auctions

www.ebay.com is where I got mine

[Colin]

Power Supplies.

TE Tech (http://www.tetech.com/power/)

Peak to Power (http://www.peaktopeakpower.com/catalogs/meanwell-001.html)

Melcor (http://www.melcor.com/powersup.htm)

Jameco (http://www.jameco.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=91&prrfnbr=3652&cgrfnbr=780&ctgys=503;528;780;)

Some links for you.

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)

Pro Cooling has a good article on condensation prevention. My method is below.

Coat your the inside of the socket, area surrounding the socket and the back of the board behind the socket with your choice of conformal coating and insulate with neoprene. Remove the feet from you CPU and coat the exposed circuitry with conformal coating. Don't forget the dielectric grease in the pin holes of the ZIF socket. You may want to cut a thin strip of neoprene to cover the locking lever of the ZIF socket. This is not shown in any of the following photos.

Insulated Board & Socket (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=51738695)

Make a blanket out of 1/16" neoprene to cover the whole package.

CPU Blanket (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=51738692)

If you are using one pelt, you will need to make a neoprene gasket to surround the pelt between the block and cold plate. With dual pelts, you can just run a bead of silicone around the pelts between the block and cold plate. Then surround the coldplate with neoprene. I found it easier to insulate the whole block and cold plate as a package. Note the 1/16" CPU blanket in the previous photo is also in the photo below. DO NOT use two sheets of 1/16" neoprene.

Insulated Block (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=50217756)

The completed package with the block installed on the motherboard.

Block Mounted on Motherboard (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=51743929)