"I’m not ready to go with water cooling yet but I am interested in trying out a peltier with this heat sink/fan combo."
-I'm not extremely familiar with Pentium III heat generation (probably over 50 watt), the problem is that most of commercially available peltiers are rated +/-72 watt (sometimes 50 -bad, as it would heat up you CPU instead; sometime 120 -good it would bring everything down to minus something). (beware that this is the amount of power it can evacuate, not the peltier's consumption, which is usually less). The problem is that the peltier must be rated much higher than the CPU (in watt, I mean), at "least" twice --You don't want the peltier to just transfer exactly the same amount of heat the CPU is generating,but more...
Cold plates, something like one is almost necessary (since the peltier won't spread heat (cold) too much. But beware: adding a cold plate is adding a second interface, therefore, using some good quality, well applied thermal compound is of PRIMAL IMPORTANCE. (I personnaly don't see why you would want to put two cold plates...but )
Remember that most peltiers appreciate 16+ volt, and many many many amperes, so a second power supply might be considered. (by the way, as everybody now should already know: +12V -(-5V)= 17Volt. This an easy way to obtain 17 volt out of any power supply.)
Yes, I was about to forget: Peltier cooling present one specific difference with "global cooling" (air, or non-conductive fluid). The difference is: CONDENSATION is an ISSUE here. Since it's ONLY the peltier and the CPU that gets cold (sub-zero is quite possible), they get below the DEW POINT with the consequence you imagine... But usually, kits sold on the net offer some insolation solution, and some site explain in detail how you can avoid condensation on the CPU.
Hope this helps.
By the way. I , too, stopped considering seriousy the outside air intake... But I'm working on a project that would interest you, it's about as cheap as peltier, more reliable, probably less dangerous, cuts the noise from the fan, and offers all the advantages of global cooling:RAM, Motherboard, Chipset everything, except moving stuff, gets a cold. THE CHEAP FREEZER SOLUTION: lacquer on the motherboard (I will inform myself for that )=harmless condensation, sub-zero temperature for the whole board and CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP (75$, in quebec, for a used small freezer...). And you could use the most gigantic and powerfull and NOISY fan in the world: It will be in a fudging fridge!
I'll posst on this later
What are your recommendations for building this set up? I have never worked with peltiers before so newbie instructions would be appreciated.
Should I use zero, one or two cold plates?
How do you wire up the peltiers? Can I wire them to an extra female plug and plug them into one of my male leads from the power supply?[/quote]