pelt question

Hello, I am extremely new to pelt cooling, as a matter of fact I don't know a damn thing about it I was wondering, with this pelt, http://cgi.ebay.com/Peltier-Cooler-...7577216646QQcategoryZ4660QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem, could I cool that sufficiently with a zalman 7000cu? I really don't know what other details to include let me know what specs you need.

That pelt won't work since it's only 100 watts. Most processors produce well over 100 watts when overclocked so it will fry. Pelts pretty much cannot be cooled with air because you will be throwing much more heat at the sink than it can handle and will likely fry the pelt as a result. If you are going to use a pelt, you will need to plan on water cooling.

If the temps go below room temperature, you will need to protect your processor, socket, and board from condensation. Sub-ambient temps is the idea behind pelts and phase change cooling. Usually the socket is filled with dielectric grease, neoprene is used all around the processor and pelt to keep air from touching the cold parts and insulate. Many setups also include heaters, usually in the socket to prevent condensation on the back of the motherboard and on the traces. If no or inadaquate condensation prevention is used then the processor pins and metal leads/traces in contact with the water will rot and disintegrate.

as of *now* I have a 2.8c and it's 80 watts output. now the pelt is 70-100 watts, so its iffy. what if I get like a 266 and run it on my 5 volt rail? right now I dont because I cant overclock my system <insert retarted motherboard here> but I just want to learn some stuff about pelts. I also have another proc which I test with and it runs at 72 watts. any more info welcome

First that pelt is a POS.

Second, if you put an 80w pelt on a 80 cpu, you get zero temperature drop, thats just how it works. You need a pelt with at least double the wattage as your cpu.

Third, it is not possible to air cool a pelt with sufficient power to handle your cpu, while expecting any reasonable results. Water is absolutely necessary. If you did air cool a pelt, you would accomplish less than a good water setup while spending more money.

Sorry about the buble bursting.

*quote* If you did air cool a pelt, you would accomplish less than a good water setup while spending more money.

but I'd only invest like 20 dollars in a pelt.. would my zalman be able to handle like a 170? or would anybody be interested in sending me some watercooling stuff to get me started

A $20 pelt will become a $0 pelt when you burn it up.

A pelt that has anywhere near it's rated limit of heat load will have a positive thermal coefficient. In other words, the hot side will heat the cold side adding to the heat output and making the hot side hotter. This continues untill the pelt burns up and possibly your processor too. If there isn't a thermal load, there it will be able to cool with the full power. An example is if your cooling off a very small refrigerator.

Air won't be able to keep up with the pelt. Instead of having just a processor, you will have the pelt putting out 100 watts too. Your heatsink will start out trying to cool 180 watts. If you are lucky, and with the cheap pelt I'm sure you won't be at all, it might stablize above ambient. What's probably going to happen is that the hotside and heatsink are going to heat up enough to heat the cold side and you hit the positive thermal coefficient again.

I think the best starting point is OCing with just your Zalman first. If you can't afford water cooling equipment, then I'm sure you can't afford to burn up your processor and possibly damage your motherboard.

you're a very smart guy I love it how people here look at all the variables. I have a p4pe-x and it will NOT allow me to even POST over 201 FSB