Thermoelectric question

[Apologenetic]

Why isn't everyone that water cools using thermoelectric cooling instead. Besides a little bit more money it looks like a great alternative to expencive phase-change. Is there some weird string attatched why don't more people use it. I also really don't know how it works. All I can see learn about is how it uses electricity to move heat away, I get that. But other than that I have no idea what you would do with a thermoelectric block(how to hook it up). Do you set it up just like water cooling exept with a special PSU and water block. Can you use water? it looks like you can on the swiftec block because of the pipes but wouldn't it freeze and ruin the pump!? Do you use RXXX refridgerants!? How does it work and why don't more people do it???

 

[c00z]

here is the quick reason...little science involved....thermoelectric coolers have two sides, one hot one cold, created as you pass electricity through them. Now to cool say a 100W processor you need approx 226W peltier, peltier named after the man who invented it, so you have your 226W peltier, plus your 100W processor. Thus a total of 326W....way more than just cooling your processor. Also, if the peltier isnt cooled well, its performance drops....that is the main problem

combine that with the insane power they need...ie you need a dedicated powersupply...your watercoolign system goes from tackling a 100W heat source to a 326W heat source...much harder task

if you want to know more i can expand to the engineering behind how it works..

 

[noskill]

Besides a little bit more money it looks like a great alternative to expencive phase-change. Is there some weird string attatched why don't more people use it.

The thing is, TEC is way less efficient than phase change. TEC can handle high load with enourmous Pelts that consume a lot of power and that seems to be one of thing why people don't do that.

I have 226W TEC on CPU and 80W TEC on GPU. According to my caculations, the whole system consumes about 600 W/h. Here in Eastern Europe I pay about $15/mo for running this 24x7. However, the cost of electricity in USA is way up.

But other than that I have no idea what you would do with a thermoelectric block(how to hook it up). Do you set it up just like water cooling exept with a special PSU and water block. Can you use water? it looks like you can on the swiftec block because of the pipes but wouldn't it freeze and ruin the pump!? Do you use RXXX refridgerants!? How does it work and why don't more people do it???

Usually you buy ready-made waterblock, like MCW5000-PT/AT.

You hook it up just like in plain W/C, and connect Pelt to PSU(s).

There's no sense of using anything except the water because coolant temps (i.e. water) is about +30-40. Water is hot and Pelt is cold. So you shouldn't afraid of ruining the pump.

Just remember to get very good radiator or maybe two of them if you are planning to use two TECs. Also read various stickies here, they will help you a lot.

 

[Ice Czar]

all the above and

when a pelt fails it all goes to hell in a handbasket, very very fast
much faster than an H2O or chipchiller
if the pelt fails it becomes an insulator for the waterblock
and when a pump fails on a pelt there is twice as much heat that would be normal,
and so half the time for an automated shutdown

and then there is condensation (applicable to any subambient of course)

 

[hardwarephreak]

Everyone above is pretty much dead on, but I will sum it up in three concise points.

1. Condensation. It is a killer. It is a PITA to put all of the condensation prevention measures on the board.

2. Power. Unless you have a *TOP QUALITY* 550W PS, you need a dedicated PS that will output an enormous amount of steady amps on the 12v line. Normally very expensive, but can be had on the cheap if you are looking in the right place at the right time.

3. For the amount of money you have to invest in both water and the TEC + supplies, you can almost afford a phase change system. So unless you are dying to experiment with pelts, not $$$$ worth it.


I am currently running one (226W). I am about to switch to Athlon64 and it will be a MAJOR PITA when I do. So much so I am thinking about ditching it....but my freind just gave me a new radiator so I am having a tough time deciding.