New pelt setup underway! **Pics Inside** (not 56k friendly)

[Revivalist]

@ RC64 - Cool, I was hoping I wouldn't have to unclamp that thing. . . Thanks for the warning about what I could possibly expect later.

@ Burdman27911 - Thanks, Burdman! Your encouragement is always appreciated. (By the way, I was asked to remove my avatar and the qoute in my sig. I guess it was offensive to some people. )

@ Pirate_Freder - The Meanwell SP480-15 is about $200. I was going to get the SP320 that most places sell around $100, but I figured I would invest in the better one so I could run my pelt at it's full potential and still have enough juice left over to run a pelt on the video card later, if the cooling can handle it.

 

[felinusz]

Prehaps a setup (excluding all other parts) could go Pelt>RADIATOR>GPU Block....so that the heat would be dumped out before hitting the GPU, and should be cool enough for the pelt (damn big guess)

That won't make the slightest difference .

The positioning of your components makes no difference whatsoever, your water will still be almost uniformly warm from all the heat coming off of that peltier.

 

[Revivalist]

That won't make the slightest difference .

The positioning of your components makes no difference whatsoever, your water will still be almost uniformly warm from all the heat coming off of that peltier.

That's true. I remember reading that usually the water temperature in a loop varies by only about 1C. . . .

I figured I would see how the pelt affects the temps of the video card and later see if I can add some additional radiator/heater core if necessary.

 

[Pirate_Freder]

yeah if you do say cpu/pelt>BIX3>Ggpu/pelt>dual heatercore i think you would be good, you might even make it with a single 120 heatercore, but i'd suggest the dual since it's 172w(i'm assuming for gpu pelt) +...60?70w? gor gpu itself. also, so can the 320w psu acutaly run the 320w pelt? i just assumed that since that's it's max wattage it wouldn't work too well.

 

[torin3]

I'm not sure how the coldplate attaches to the maze4, but there is no way you would be able to crush the pelt with it's attachment. The pelt is 4 square inches, so you are looking for 800-1200 lb of pressure. Just use whatever mounting it has, and tighten it as much as you can without stripping the threads.

Hmmm...when I put my first peltier in a Maze 4-1 I hear some cracking sounds and then stopped at that point. When I took it apart later that night as I realize I had the leads going off in the wrong direction, I saw that two corners of the peltier had cracked. I may have done something else that caused it...I just don't know. I'm just mentioning it as a data point.

 

[Aphex_Tom_9]

oooh, congrats on the frostyness!
now just seal it up nicely and youve got sweet cooling

 

[T'wolves]

Revivalist, are you insulating the socket and back side of the motherboard too?

I still have my 226W pelt sittin around, wondering if I should stick it on my operton 165 and really push it. However i hate insulating everything on the mobo. always worried i wont get a good seel.

 

[Revivalist]

Revivalist, are you insulating the socket and back side of the motherboard too?

I still have my 226W pelt sittin around, wondering if I should stick it on my operton 165 and really push it. However i hate insulating everything on the mobo. always worried i wont get a good seel.

Yup, I used conformal coating all around the socket and dielectric grease in the socket holes. And after installing the CPU, I put more conformal coating all around the edge of the CPU. There were also 4 neoprene pads used in total (behind the board, around the socket, around the CPU, and around the coldplate). . . There's definately a lot of prep that goes in . . . but it's worth it. I just hit -7C idle! . . . Here's the pics. . .


Conformal coating around the socket and dielectric grease in the socket holes . . .

Conformal coating around the CPU . . .

Testing the pelt setup . . .

And the result . . . -7C idle. (I still need to test load.) . . .

 

[mtb856]

Nice work.... and good luck on overclocking with your new stuff

*edit

Just noticed we have the same case... nice work with yours. I had to part mine out, but the case is still in my closet waiting to be reborn

 

[T'wolves]

how easily is that conformal coating to remove? also, anyone know any good retail stores to pick some up instead of waiting for blasted shipping...

edit i used to use goop, but if u peel it off, sometimes a resistor or two would come with it

 

[Aphex_Tom_9]

ew that's a lotta grease and stuff...

 

[speed bump]

Nail polish works fairly well as a conformal coating and then you just put di-electric grease in the socket and your pretty much down for insulating you motherboard

 

[Revivalist]

Ok, I'm up and running . . . Motherboard Monitor reads the following:

-9C at idle (underclocked to 1.06GHz and undervolted to 1.07V)

22C at full load for 20 min (overclocked to 2.60GHz and overvolted to 1.70V)

Here's a screenshot at idle . . .

I was surprised about a few things . . .

1. The CPU is coldest when the Meanwell power supply is set to 12.3V (which is the minimum) rather than 15V which is the maximum. I thought that the more power I sent to the peltier, the cooler it would make the CPU.

2. I couldn't get higher than 2.65GHz which I could already do just on water (although temps would get up to 45C). I even tried 1.8V Vcore but it still didn't pass occt. I think the problem is that it's still hitting 28C at load. Does this mean I have to have a better way of cooling the water block? Would a dual heatercore do the trick?

 

[Revivalist]

A few more pics, just for fun . . .


The side -- I put the Meanwell at the very top there.

The back -- I bore out holes for the Meanwell fans. Not the cleanest holes but they'll do the job.

The front -- I installed the 5.25" bay intake fans at the top to help keep the Meanwell cool behind them.

The inside -- I took the UV acrylic plate from my old Storm and put it over the Maze 4-1. (I was stoked that it actually fit!)

Some UV action.

A little more UV action.

 

[mtb856]

Nice

 

[T'wolves]

1. The CPU is coldest when the Meanwell power supply is set to 12.3V (which is the minimum) rather than 19.2V which is the maximum. I thought that the more power I sent to the peltier, the cooler it would make the CPU.

2. I couldn't get higher than 2.65GHz which I could already do just on water (although temps would get up to 45C). I even tried 1.8V Vcore but it still didn't pass occt. I think the problem is that it's still hitting 28C at load. Does this mean I have to have a better way of cooling the water block? Would a dual heatercore do the trick?

I read before a pelt is most efficient at about 75-85% max voltage rating meaning it removes the most heat for the most amount of cooling. At 100% voltage it actually dumps more heat into your cooling system than it takes away and can actually make your temps worse in some cases.

 

[5|*42]

That green looks awesome! Great job man!

 

[Revivalist]

Thanks guys!

@ T'wolves - That makes sense. I can't run the Meanwell any lower than 12.3V but that's actually 82% of 15V so I guess it's within the range you mentioned. . .

I discovered that I was actually running my Vcore too high. When I lowered it to 1.7V, I was able to run 2.7GHz and pass occt. So I'm doing about 500MHz over what I could do only on water. Not bad, I guess.

 

[T'wolves]

awesome job, yeah i would try to keep that meanwell about 12.3V, certainly dont go over 15V u might damage the pelt, but i dont know about that so...makes me want to bust out my old 226W and put this DC opty to the test.

 

[Revivalist]

awesome job, yeah i would try to keep that meanwell about 12.3V, certainly dont go over 15V u might damage the pelt, but i dont know about that so...makes me want to bust out my old 226W and put this DC opty to the test.

Do it! Do it! Do it! . . . Freeze that puppy!