A Few Questions Before The First TEC Build

[practal]

I was doing research for my first water cooling set up and stumbled upon TECs. I decided to try them as well and I have a couple of questions before I finish my ordering.

The system:
e6400
MSI 975x V.2
Wintec AMPX DDR2-667
OCZ 7000w

What I have so far for water(only cooling CPU/NB):
MCP355 With Petra Modded Top
Coolingworks Coolrad 32T
Silverprop Cyclone NexusSX
Swiftech Micro Res

What I want so far for the TEC:
Meanwell 320-12 PSU
320w 50mm Peltier

1. Which CPU Water block is the best for a TEC? Im currently looking at a Swiftech Apogee GT or Danger Den Maze4-1 TEC Version. Whats the difference between using a normal water block and one made for TECs? Does the TEC version come with anything different(mounting, insulation, ect.) that doesnt come with a normal water block?

2. Would it be worth it to add a second radiator to the loop, thinking a single 120. I know the TEC will be giving off alot of heat so I would think that it would help but Im not certain if itll be to much for my loop.

3. Any suggestions on Pump Relay Switchs or a delay timer? Ive read about these and want to use them but I cant seem to find them at a reasonable price. Any suggestions on where to look or specific models to look for?

4. I need some help with insulation also. Ive read how to do the back of the motherboard and around the socket. I havent seen any guides covering anything else and I would think the socket, water block, and lines would have to be insulated as well. Can you point me to any guide on total insulation?

 

[nigerian_businessman]

I was doing research for my first water cooling set up and stumbled upon TECs. I decided to try them as well and I have a couple of questions before I finish my ordering.

The system:
e6400
MSI 975x V.2
Wintec AMPX DDR2-667
OCZ 7000w

What I have so far for water(only cooling CPU/NB):
MCP355 With Petra Modded Top
Coolingworks Coolrad 32T
Silverprop Cyclone NexusSX
Swiftech Micro Res

What I want so far for the TEC:
Meanwell 320-12 PSU
320w 50mm Peltier

1. Which CPU Water block is the best for a TEC? Im currently looking at a Swiftech Apogee GT or Danger Den Maze4-1 TEC Version. Whats the difference between using a normal water block and one made for TECs? Does the TEC version come with anything different(mounting, insulation, ect.) that doesnt come with a normal water block?

2. Would it be worth it to add a second radiator to the loop, thinking a single 120. I know the TEC will be giving off alot of heat so I would think that it would help but Im not certain if itll be to much for my loop.

3. Any suggestions on Pump Relay Switchs or a delay timer? Ive read about these and want to use them but I cant seem to find them at a reasonable price. Any suggestions on where to look or specific models to look for?

4. I need some help with insulation also. Ive read how to do the back of the motherboard and around the socket. I havent seen any guides covering anything else and I would think the socket, water block, and lines would have to be insulated as well. Can you point me to any guide on total insulation?

The best waterblock for a TEC would be something like the MCW6000, with lots of pins and lots of surface area, as opposed to something that focuses the water on a small diameter over the CPU core. You want to pull the heat away from the whole TEC, not just the middle of it.

A second rad would be a great idea, but an ideal solution would be to ditch the smaller rads and trade up to something like a transmission cooler or a high fin density 2 or 3x120 rad. With a 320w pelt you're going to be dumping something along the lines of 400w+ of heat into the loop. You need a lot of cooling ability for the water. I don't know how important aesthetics are to you but a large reservoir could possibly help with temps. More water will spread the heat out a little more.

I can't really help with the relay switch thing, but as far as insulation goes, you should be good with just around the socket area. TEC's don't get crazy condensation like some of the more extreme cooling methods, largely because the hot side of the tec helps keep it under control.

 

[Willsonman]

I agree with the rad. I had a 320W pelt on my CPU and an 80W on my GPU and my 3X120mm rad still got quite warm with all 3 fans on high. I use the sheapo faom stuff you can get at a craft store. Then layer it with super 77 glue from 3m. Then I cut it with a razor to fit it where I need. To be safe I would get some conformal coating just in case there is some condensation build up. I fried 2 GPUs because of this. Needless to say Lesson learned. Also get some dielectric grease for your socket. If condensation builds up between the pins... you are safe. I've only used the DangerDen blocks(maze4) and they worked ok. Really a pain to get the pelt installed right but they kept my GPU at about 0C and CPU at around 12C. The CPU was overclocked to 2.8Ghz at that time. A simpler idea would be to use the 320W pelt to chill the water.

My pelt rig was a lot of fun to build and I learned a lot and got some great overclocking but I'm back to plain old water. Mostly because I got bored with it and I did a motherboard swap and did not feel like redoing all the conformal coating and cutting new foam.