TEC cooling

[redbox]

I was looking into TEC cooling and was wondering what the pro's and con's are of a TEC system. What would be an entry level system and how would it compare to Air or Water cooling?

 

[imported_wicka]

Well you don't use TEC's alone, you use them in conjuction with air or water. And the Peltier effect itself is not efficient at all, to the extent that if you were to use air + TEC it would run hotter than just air alone. I would stay away from them and just stick to a good water setup.

 

[krotchy]

You can only effectively use a TEC with water. If you use a peltier with air, you are likely to encounter catastrophic results. If you dont cool the hot side enough (Air cooling is NEVER enough) it will heat up the cold side. Things will get worse like a domino, and you end up screwed.

Even if you set up a TEC system properly, you have to be careful about condensation. They can cause ice cubes to form and melt within your computer, which is obviously a bad thing.

People look at a TEC and think it is a simple solution to a really cold computer, when in actuallity it is potentially quite dangerous for components, and overall it costs alot of money to run one power wise.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

TEC is kinda pointless IMO. You need watercooling. Air cooling isn't going to cut it, like mentioned above. You also need a strong PSU to power any decent TEC. You also need insulation to prevent condensation on your CPU area. And it's just rather technical to boot. If you want the sub-zero temps of TEC cooling, I'd just get a phase change system.

EDIT: It's been often said, something like this anyway, that for overclocking,

Air gets you to 60% of your max overclock. Water gets you to 90%, and extreme sub-zero cooling gets you that last 10%.

 

[redbox]

I knew that you had to use water cooling and probably another psu. I was just wondering I guess if it is worth all of the mess over water cooling? If you already have a water cooled rig and want to use a pelt on your gpu is it worth it. I have heard that with the heat these modern gpu's put out the pelt doesn't do so well with them unless it is a real monster of a pelt.

 

[Geomagick]

A well set up peltier is not going to be cheap either. Not only do you need a decent water cooling setup to begin with you need the peltiers themselves - cheap but require their own power supplies and you do have to be very careful about condensation.

If you really wanted to go all out though there is always the possibilty of going for a Vapochill setup which comes with all the kit required to fend off condensation and ice formation.

 

[JAG87]

If you are considering a TEC cooling, put into account you need money for pelts and power supply, you need money for water cooling. Plus there are a million things to worry about. I would never connect pelts to your pc psu. you need a seperate psu. you need to seal the pelts so no condensation forms. If you think about it all of this souds much like phase change, so I would suggest if you really want cold, save up a bit more and get yourself a vapo. a properly done tec will end up costing you a fortune anyways, not as much as phase, but a lot.

 

[smopoim86]

If you use a tec, like others are saying, you will need a good water cooling setup to keep it cool.
I would go over to extreme systems and look here

u should be able to find anything u want to know there

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: redbox
I knew that you had to use water cooling and probably another psu. I was just wondering I guess if it is worth all of the mess over water cooling? If you already have a water cooled rig and want to use a pelt on your gpu is it worth it. I have heard that with the heat these modern gpu's put out the pelt doesn't do so well with them unless it is a real monster of a pelt.

If you get the water below the dew point you will need insulation too.