Can someone explain how watercooling/peltiers work?

[Justin]

Im at loss for I dont know how these systems work and I was curious. I have a twisted idea in my mind but I know its not correct. I know it musit be more efficient than the fan and heatsink method....

 

[AMDGuy]

Justin (Jun 25, 2001 06:30 a.m.):
Im at loss for I dont know how these systems work and I was curious. I have a twisted idea in my mind but I know its not correct. I know it musit be more efficient than the fan and heatsink method....

A peltier uses electric current to transfer heat from one side of the material to the other. The side having heat transferred from it gets very cold while the side the heat is transferred to gets hot.

Usually a pelt (also called a TEC), is sandwiched between a cold plate and a waterblock. The cold plate goes against the processor and the cold side of the pelt rests on it. The cold plate disperses the the cooling more evenly. As the water flows through the waterblock it picks up the heat from the hot side and disperses it through the radiator.

That's basically how they work. There's a lot of technical details that I'm not sure of such as how much power you need to run a given peltier. I know you usually need a dedicated power supply for these devices.

Good Luck!

 

[CpuWaterCool.com]

Let's make it even simplier.

from the bottom... CPU... cold plate (to make heat transfer more effective)... peltier(coldside)/(hotside)... waterblock...to watercooling setup.

Peltiers 'throw' heat from one side to the other. This makes one side very cold, and the other very hot.

The above setup will allow the peltier to 'throw' the CPU generated heat to the HOT side... where the waterblock (watercooling setup) will take that heat and dissapate it through a radiator of some sort.

Simple as that.