Extreme Cooling?

[DarkStarr]

I took a look at these and was wondering whats the deal with TECs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-5pcs-91-2W-...355?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c1894ae0b

I found those on ebay and said to myself, why couldn't I just get these hook em up to a fan voltage controller and just start em off low and just turn it up until I get the desired temps, and just slide em in between the GPU and the stock heatsink to improve the cooling power. Maybe even do the same to the CPU unless there would be a problem with that?

 

[Optix]

Since I have no practical application for TEC cooling, I have not researched it too much but if you can cool a component below ambient temperatures don't you then have to watch for condensation? If you were to simply slap one of these onto a GPU it would short. If I'm not mistaken you need proper insulation to run a TEC setup.

 

[DarkStarr]

But what I am saying is that if hooked up to say a fan controller and just turn it down when its not folding so it wouldn't be below ambient and just turn it to the point of say 5C above ambient or so when folding.

 

[Optix]

Possibly. The question is can they handle a low enough voltage to get to that point? There are some fans that just simply stop spinning when they get too low. I'm not sure if that would be an issue on this though because it's electrical, not mechanical.

I think you need to get a few, rig up on old video card that you don't mind frying, do the mod and let us know. Hehehe.

 

[DarkStarr]

I think I may try it but without a card on it since I dont really have any old ones, mainly just a 5750 and 2 GTX 275s, that or I may try it on a old P4 XD hahahaha try to clock it to the magical 5 Ghz or something. But no really I will probably try it on just an old P4.

 

[Kougar]

A fan controller wouldn't work for this, at least not any that I am aware of. I'm pretty sure it would blow the controller from the current draw. Most beefier TEC plates require their own dedicated power supply for use just because of the power they draw to operate, but some of these can adjust the voltage output.

Undervolting them IS possible, but TEC's lose efficiency as the voltage drops and there's a point they won't work below which varies depending on the type and quality of the TEC plate. They can take you to subzero, but keep in mind you must cool the TEC itself. That's the gotcha part.

Keep in mind I'm making these numbers up for the example, but if you are cooling a processor putting out 100W with a 200W TEC, you're going to need a cooling solution that can dissipate something like 200W. The TEC creates a ton of heat in the thermal exchange process and using one means you now have to find a way to dissipate both the CPU and the TEC's heat. (it's inefficiency + power draw is why window AC units and cars use phase change setups and not petliers/TECs to generate cooling, pretty much)

XtremeSystems has a ton of people that are more knowledgeable about peltiers/TECs so you can find several years worth of people goofing around with them there. Some of the setups I've seen were downright scary...