I have been trying to decide between a pelt (226w) or some kind of extreme water chiller. The main reason I want to go w/ the chiller is because it will be somewhat cheaper compared to a pelt. because id need the w/b,pelt,psu,and a new radiator. As for performance also I beleive the chiller will owrk better beacuse I will then be able to get low temps on all the components I have a waterblock on but I do have one question. Which would get me lower overall temps and how hard would it be to get ahold of/build a water chiller that will get me temps below freezing.
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Chiller or Pelt(s)
- Thread starter creepy
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2002
- Location
- Boise, ID
Why not get BOTH a chiller and a pelt? 
I am pretty sure that will give you the lowest temps. I believe that Kunaak could attest to that (he is a member on this forum).
As for whether a chiller or a pelt would give you better temps if you had to choose one or the other, it really depends on what kind of chiller and what kind of pelt.
A good pelt on a CPU (i.e. 226W) can get you about 10-15 degrees (celsius that is) below ambient but this really depends on how big a radiator you got, how much air you are pushing through it, your tubing size, etc.
You might have great temps with your current water setup but if you are going to add pelts to the equation (and I understand that you want to add pelts not only to the CPU but to the GPU *and* the NB), you might find out that your watercooling components are suddenly not keeping up. I have been running a 226W pelt on my CPU and a 80W pelt on GPU until my pump failed recently and trust me, I had to push **A LOT** of air through the rad to cool this setup. This is because I have a BIX rad at the moment and while it can handle 2 waterblocks (CPU and GPU) just fine without pelts, when you add the pelts to the equation, you end up with a computer that can heat your house.
I am not kidding when I say that I turn off the heating in my room when I run my comp in winter here because the comp is more than enough to provide heating for my room.
My point out of all this? You might end up having to spend a ton if you go the pelt route because it's not only about purcashing pelts and slapping them on to the waterblocks (like you said yourself, you would most likely need to get a bigger rad at least to be able to disappate all the extra heat from those 3 peltiers). Furthermore, there is the power issue. There is no way you are going to be able to run a 226W pelt off of an ATX PSU unless it provides 25 amps. If your PSU can't provide 25 amps, you are going to have to get a dedicated one. I am running my 226W pelt with a dedicated Meanwell PSU and running the 80W GPU pelt through my ATX PSU and even that is pushing it so if I wanted add another pelt for the NB, this would be problematic.
OK, to answer your question about sub-zero temps, I find it VERY UNLIKELY that you are going to be able to achieve it with just pelts.
I *can* get about -4C or -5C with my setup using pelts but only at default voltage and default clock speed AND when CPU is idle. I don't think that you would be able to get below freezing temps with any peltier setup when overclocked and under load. If you are not overclocking like crazy, and don't touch the voltage at all, it might be possible but if you are overclocking (which is the whole reason to use pelts) then I don't think you are going to be able see sub-zero temps. Sub-ambient? Yes. Sub-zero? I don't think so.
Getting a chiller on the other hand might indeed be an easier solution and it would give you below freezing temps and yet it might turn out to be inpractical or a too costly solution. In my experience, finding a good chiller is not very easy. Most people end up buying **HUGE** watercoolers and other equipment like dehumidifiers to mod them into waterchillers. If you are not big into modding however, you can still get commercially available *powerful* waterchillers (which are also usually **HUGE**) but they are extrememly expensive. I used the word powerful here because some people think that they can get a any waterchiller like the ones that are designed for the sinks and run them in a watercooling setup and get good temps. The truth is, most commercially available waterchillers you can buy (such as the ones that would cool the water going to your sink) are NOT designed to handle heatloads like the kind we are talking about in watercooling. I mean sure, a sink chiller might give you sub-zero temps when it's hooked to the sink but you put that thing in your computer, the results might be disastrous since it has to work against all the heat your comp is producing. Besides, it would normally be best to run without a rad in a good chiller setup because the rad would actually heat the water up since it tries to get the water temp close to ambient. As a result, with a good chiller that would get you below freezing temps, you would normally want to run without a radiator AND if you happen to slap a weak chiller to your setup without a radiator, you could end up with VERY hot water (and CPU) in a very short amount of time.
Just ask Kunaak on this forum. He had once said that if you really want to do serious waterchilling and get good temps, you should check out NESLAB equipment on Ebay. If I remember right though, his quote was something like "these things can vary from the size of a computer monitor to something the size of a car". Some of this equipment is also hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
So in my personal opinion, if you are going to go the waterchilling route, make sure that you have the modding skills to be able to make chillers out of watercoolers or de-humidifiers. Otherwise, you can still get decent chillers that would do the job BUT most likely you are going to have to pay so much AND end up with a chiller so big that you would be better off just buying a Prometia Mach I or a Vapochiller. It might come to the same price or maybe even cheaper.
Oh, btw, I almost forgot. If you are going to go the chilling route, you would probably want to protect everything against condensation including your tubing. With a pelt setup, you don't normally need to cover your tubing against condensation as the water temp doesn't normally get below ambient but it is a different story when you are using a water chiller. Finally, you would need to use anti-freeze in a chiller setup. This might seem obvious to you now but what might not be obvious is that not all pumps are that great at pushing a mixture of anti-freeze and water. You might find out that you need to upgrade to a mighty pump if you go the waterchilling route as well.
All in all, lots of things to think about. I am not trying to discourage you at all here, only making you realize that there are lots of things to think about here. You kinda made it sound simple by saying, should I just use a chiller or pelts but in my opinion the answer to that question is not that simple.
To summarize, I think it's easier to go the pelt route as you don't have to have any modding skills but it might cost a lot depending on your components (I don't know what you have for radiator, pump, etc. now) AND you are not likely to see sub-zero temps.
The chiller route on the other hand will give you better temps but it is more dangerous (in a watercooling setup you always have the risk of pump failure but when you go waterchilling without a rad, there is always the risk of chiller failure (obviously, a rad is passive and can't fail)) and there is condensation to worry about. Furthermore, if you are not good at modding things, you might end up paying even more for going the chiller route than going the pelt route.
So I guess 3 vital questions here are:
1- How much are you willing to pay for this?
2- How good are your skills with modding things? (can you make a chiller out of a de-humidifier or a watercooler)
3- How good is your watercooling setup right now? (If you have a big enough radiator, pump, etc., it might be a lot easier for you to go the pelt route).
I am pretty sure that will give you the lowest temps. I believe that Kunaak could attest to that (he is a member on this forum).As for whether a chiller or a pelt would give you better temps if you had to choose one or the other, it really depends on what kind of chiller and what kind of pelt.
A good pelt on a CPU (i.e. 226W) can get you about 10-15 degrees (celsius that is) below ambient but this really depends on how big a radiator you got, how much air you are pushing through it, your tubing size, etc.
You might have great temps with your current water setup but if you are going to add pelts to the equation (and I understand that you want to add pelts not only to the CPU but to the GPU *and* the NB), you might find out that your watercooling components are suddenly not keeping up. I have been running a 226W pelt on my CPU and a 80W pelt on GPU until my pump failed recently and trust me, I had to push **A LOT** of air through the rad to cool this setup. This is because I have a BIX rad at the moment and while it can handle 2 waterblocks (CPU and GPU) just fine without pelts, when you add the pelts to the equation, you end up with a computer that can heat your house.
I am not kidding when I say that I turn off the heating in my room when I run my comp in winter here because the comp is more than enough to provide heating for my room.
My point out of all this? You might end up having to spend a ton if you go the pelt route because it's not only about purcashing pelts and slapping them on to the waterblocks (like you said yourself, you would most likely need to get a bigger rad at least to be able to disappate all the extra heat from those 3 peltiers). Furthermore, there is the power issue. There is no way you are going to be able to run a 226W pelt off of an ATX PSU unless it provides 25 amps. If your PSU can't provide 25 amps, you are going to have to get a dedicated one. I am running my 226W pelt with a dedicated Meanwell PSU and running the 80W GPU pelt through my ATX PSU and even that is pushing it so if I wanted add another pelt for the NB, this would be problematic.
OK, to answer your question about sub-zero temps, I find it VERY UNLIKELY that you are going to be able to achieve it with just pelts.
I *can* get about -4C or -5C with my setup using pelts but only at default voltage and default clock speed AND when CPU is idle. I don't think that you would be able to get below freezing temps with any peltier setup when overclocked and under load. If you are not overclocking like crazy, and don't touch the voltage at all, it might be possible but if you are overclocking (which is the whole reason to use pelts) then I don't think you are going to be able see sub-zero temps. Sub-ambient? Yes. Sub-zero? I don't think so.
Getting a chiller on the other hand might indeed be an easier solution and it would give you below freezing temps and yet it might turn out to be inpractical or a too costly solution. In my experience, finding a good chiller is not very easy. Most people end up buying **HUGE** watercoolers and other equipment like dehumidifiers to mod them into waterchillers. If you are not big into modding however, you can still get commercially available *powerful* waterchillers (which are also usually **HUGE**) but they are extrememly expensive. I used the word powerful here because some people think that they can get a any waterchiller like the ones that are designed for the sinks and run them in a watercooling setup and get good temps. The truth is, most commercially available waterchillers you can buy (such as the ones that would cool the water going to your sink) are NOT designed to handle heatloads like the kind we are talking about in watercooling. I mean sure, a sink chiller might give you sub-zero temps when it's hooked to the sink but you put that thing in your computer, the results might be disastrous since it has to work against all the heat your comp is producing. Besides, it would normally be best to run without a rad in a good chiller setup because the rad would actually heat the water up since it tries to get the water temp close to ambient. As a result, with a good chiller that would get you below freezing temps, you would normally want to run without a radiator AND if you happen to slap a weak chiller to your setup without a radiator, you could end up with VERY hot water (and CPU) in a very short amount of time.
Just ask Kunaak on this forum. He had once said that if you really want to do serious waterchilling and get good temps, you should check out NESLAB equipment on Ebay. If I remember right though, his quote was something like "these things can vary from the size of a computer monitor to something the size of a car". Some of this equipment is also hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
So in my personal opinion, if you are going to go the waterchilling route, make sure that you have the modding skills to be able to make chillers out of watercoolers or de-humidifiers. Otherwise, you can still get decent chillers that would do the job BUT most likely you are going to have to pay so much AND end up with a chiller so big that you would be better off just buying a Prometia Mach I or a Vapochiller. It might come to the same price or maybe even cheaper.
Oh, btw, I almost forgot. If you are going to go the chilling route, you would probably want to protect everything against condensation including your tubing. With a pelt setup, you don't normally need to cover your tubing against condensation as the water temp doesn't normally get below ambient but it is a different story when you are using a water chiller. Finally, you would need to use anti-freeze in a chiller setup. This might seem obvious to you now but what might not be obvious is that not all pumps are that great at pushing a mixture of anti-freeze and water. You might find out that you need to upgrade to a mighty pump if you go the waterchilling route as well.
All in all, lots of things to think about. I am not trying to discourage you at all here, only making you realize that there are lots of things to think about here. You kinda made it sound simple by saying, should I just use a chiller or pelts but in my opinion the answer to that question is not that simple.
To summarize, I think it's easier to go the pelt route as you don't have to have any modding skills but it might cost a lot depending on your components (I don't know what you have for radiator, pump, etc. now) AND you are not likely to see sub-zero temps.
The chiller route on the other hand will give you better temps but it is more dangerous (in a watercooling setup you always have the risk of pump failure but when you go waterchilling without a rad, there is always the risk of chiller failure (obviously, a rad is passive and can't fail)) and there is condensation to worry about. Furthermore, if you are not good at modding things, you might end up paying even more for going the chiller route than going the pelt route.
So I guess 3 vital questions here are:
1- How much are you willing to pay for this?
2- How good are your skills with modding things? (can you make a chiller out of a de-humidifier or a watercooler)
3- How good is your watercooling setup right now? (If you have a big enough radiator, pump, etc., it might be a lot easier for you to go the pelt route).
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