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Looking into Peltier cooling...general questions

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Nano2e

Registered
Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Location
Owosso, MI, USA
Hey all...I am new here and have never really looked into TECs...but a friend of mine is getting one and I thought they were really cool. So I just have some easy questions. I will post my system specs so you can refer to them....


Intel 3.2GHz 775 (plan to OC)
Abit AA8-DuraMax MOBO
No RAM yet...plan to get 512 Dual channel PC2 4300...then upgrade to 1GB
No Video yet..plan to get a 6600GT in PCI-E
Thermaltake 420w Purepower
Thermaltake Tsunami Case
No cooling yet as I'm still building


Ok...question number one. Should I get an "el cheapo" liquid cooling system to go on top of the TEC or a nice air set up?

Next question...should I buy the TEC seperatly and then get the cooling system or buy them together like Swiftech's 5002-775T?

Number 3....What kin of wattage should I be looking at....there was a 226W TEC for 15 bucks on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewItem&category=3673&item=6736782561&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
...is that even normal?....I don't have to worry about the PSU becasue I can buid one...I am an electronic engineering student so that is no sweat.

Also...what are some general condensation prevention ideas?
And if there is anything that I am not address or you think I should know about please let me know....thanks.
 
Welcome to the forums.

There is a sticky with a lot of information about TEC setups that will answer most of your questions. I would recommend you build a decent watercooling system that can handle the tec first though, and once you are comfortable with that and all the other workings of your system, you can add the TEC.

An air cooling setup will almost deffinatly not be able to handle a pelt on a CPU, unless you use a leaf blower (seriously, that is what you would need).

For a pelt that size, your watercooling will have to deal with around 300 watts of heat, so it has to be fairly decent. You want a high flow (low restriction) waterblock, that is large enough to cover the entire area of the pelt. A lot of people use a maze 4 I think. There are swiftec blocks available that already have the pelt, waterblock and coldplate all together for you, and insulation kits are available. unless you want to learn a lot, that is probably a good way to go. As for a pump, you can probably get away with a cheap via 1300 or something of the sort that has very high flow with low restriction. For a radiator I would recommend going to an autoparts store and getting a nice heatercore or 2. They are cheap, and work great.

Making your own supply will be easy. Pelts will put up with a whole lot of ripple without complaint, so you don't have to get too fancy. Transformer, rectifier, and a few capacitors or inductors and you are set.

Good luck!!
 
Ok I read the sicky and learned plenty....I thank you for your help on the colling system too....now I have another question...

Is begger always better? Or should I get the 170something or a smaller one. Or do you think that the system you recommended will be overkill....? Thanks for your help!
 
The general rule for a pelt is that it should have a capacity of at least twice what you are cooling with it. Since you have a prescott, and will probably be running it at some pretty high clocks and voltage, I would say a 226 watt or around there would be the minumum. There are some even larger pelts around that might work well, but they would require a lot more work to get working properly.
 
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