Good thread. might I add some input, perhaps advise?
The selection of cooling should be determined by what exactly you are trying to cool with it. For example, the mini fridge. It is said it won't work.... But it COULD work.
Can you cool an overclocked 4770K with a mini fridge? Nope. Can you cool a Athlon 64 LE-1660? Yep!
So in reality, it's wrong to say you can't do something with a mini fridge. It really depends on the processor output.
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How about a silly question! Can you cool a processor without a heatsink and only a fan on the IHS plate? Yep! I've done that too. Take that Athlon LE-1660 for example. It's a 45W processor. multi of 14x200. 2.8ghz. Well I didn't exactly get that number. I started with low P-state voltage and frequency. Got as high as 2ghz on less than 1.2v. But it's doable.
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You should also mention the fact that many minifridges do not even run with compressors, they use TEC's which makes them even less powerful for PC cooling.
This is true for some mini fridges. Mine uses alcohol actually and can run on 12v, 120v and propane. It's basically a camper mini fridge designed to cool something that doesn't produce heat. It does have the capacity to cool the Athlon LE-1660.
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There's a lot of things that determine the chilling capabilities. So we can't just go around saying this or that will not work. We can say it may not work for such and such applications.
This would be helpful to have a list added somewhere. What processors CAN I cool with a mini fridge and which one that cannot.
My 2 cents. I've tried a lot of different applications concerning cooling chilling, over and underclocking through the years. Have had plenty of success.
Here's a good read about TEC chilling with FX processors. I don't think of it as a success, but more of a fun experiment.
http://classicplatforms.com/main/forum/viewtopic.php?f=200&t=8319