Thoughts on a peltier water cooled system.

[lobadobadingdong]

This may or may not have been brought up before, it just kind of hit me today about doing this. since there are a few who use a peltier for cpu cooling, and that this would limit some of the problems since you'd have some reduncey by using water as well.

materials:
2 large heatsinks (1 of the two can mount a quiet fan)
thermal glue
Inulation for your resevior
a 12V DC peltier device
a ~3W rheostat (0~80?ohm) {guess on this as I haven't done the math}
and your normal water cooling setup waterblock(s), hose, pump, radiator.
a thermometer (for watching the temps of the resevoir) preferably one of those automotive thermometers that can measure low temps.

Configuration:
on the hot side of the peltier mount the large heatsink w/fan with thermal glue.

on the cold side of the peltier mount a heatsink to the peltier with thermal glue. (both would probably need some other method as the heat and cold from the peltier would likely break down the glue to a point of failure)

use the rheostat to in the peltiers power circuit to control the cooling via voltage adjustments.

Mount the peltier to the top of the resevior, in a way that the cold sides heatsink will be submerged in the water, and that the hot sides heatsink will be outside the resevoir.

Mount the thermometer to the resevior in any manner you see fit.

connect the water system up:

Resevoir(with peltier cold side in water) ->pump -> cpu -> vpu/chipset (if you use these waterblocks) -> radiator ->Resevoir

Use the thermometer to watch the water temp to make sure it doesn't get below the dew point, use the rheostat on the peltier to adjust the voltage to control the amount of cooling to the resevoir.

The peltier waterblock would need to stay slightly abouve 0C if you plan on using water to prevent freezing in the water lines. however you'd need the cold side to remain at a high enough temp to prevent condensation (or have a method set up to remove the condensation if you really wanted to cool it below freezing, though you would need a different fluid to be pushed through the hose)

Thanks for the suggestions. I've updated the configuration to what seems to be better that the orignal setup I was thinking of.

 

[futuristicmonkey]

That's a cool idea :beer: 😀 :cookie;

 

[akira34]

Why have the heatsink at all? From what I've read, using the peltier is just a waste of money at this point. Especially if you're going with liquid cooling. You'd be better off adding another radiator, or using a larger one. Put a small radiator after the GPU and before the processor block to cool the liquid some before picking up more heat from the processor and you'll have more cooling going on. As other's have pointed out more than a few times, you won't be able to get the processor below ambient (room) temp with liquid cooling or anything else that doesn't use a ultra-cold medium to remove the heat. With enough radiators, pumps, fluid, and good sized tubing, you might be able to get the processor to <5C over ambient under load. When you think about it, that's just about every geek's "wet" dream these days. [pun intended]

 

[lobadobadingdong]

the idea is to get the cpu temp ever so slightly below ambient using the peltier.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

it would work better to just put the peltier between the waterblock and cpu. that way the peltier is not cooling water that will pass through tthe radiator anyway

I saw something where the water was chilled below ambient with peltiers. the water did not flow through a radiator though (cause this would heat it up). the water went from pump to cpu to res. and the res had the cold side of 2 peltiers on it. the hot sides had big heatsinks and fans

 

[Blain]

Condensation doesn't happen around freezing. It happens when the cooler goes below the dewpoint of the room. That may be at a higher or lower temp, depending on humidity.

The Subzero4G is designed to cool the CPU, but not create condensation. The temp sensor is placed in the copper cold plate, and the whole thing can be taken apart.
It can be adapted for water cooling, with some thought on how to fasten the whole unit down on the CPU.

You can just insulate the cold parts of the setup and blast away on the peltier. The insulation would prevent any warm moist air from coming into contact with the cold surfaces, which would prevent condensation. Water cooling to pull the heat off the peltier is a great way of cooling it.

 

[Jiggz]

I was thinking more of getting a couple of peltiers to be mounted inside the water reservoir. Cold side inside the reservoir while the hot sides are mounted with heat sinks and fan on the outside. In this case, the water block receives cooled water. Depending on the temps you want you could have four or three or even just two peltiers turned on at a time.

 

[arcas]

If I were going this route, I'd agree with Jiggz. Mount the cold side of the peltier to a heatsink immersed in the reservoir. The benefit to this is when/if the peltier goes bad your setup will essentially become a normal water-cooling rig, you won't fry your CPU like might occur if you mount the peltier between the CPU and waterblock.

Really, though, this is an expensive road to go down. First, figure $200 for the water cooling setup. Then figure another $50-$100 for the peltiers depending on how many you're going to run. You'll need heatsinks for the hot sides of the peltiers. Figure $30 for a large heatsink from a surplus electronics shop. If you choose the 135W peltiers, you might need to consider a dedicated power supply, especially if you're going to run two or more peltiers. Figure another $50-$100 depending on how much 12V current you need.

You're already at upwards of $400 on this setup and it's concievable that you'll need to spend another $50 on miscellaneous stuff (insulation, etc). This is approaching the cost of a phase change setup which would achieve much lower temperatures. One more thing to consider if electricity is expensive where you live: Will the peltiers + water pump draw more electricity than a phase change compressor?

 

[lobadobadingdong]

you can get 110W 12V peltiers for about $10-15 (you can get 320W 0-15V peltiers for about $30). Most people I know that air cool, including myself, have a few extra heatsinks lying around. I was just trying to think up an inexpensive way to lower the water temp. even further for a water cooled system. I do like the idea of using it in the resevoir after it's already been cooled by the radiator to ~ambient. in an insulated resevoir 1 of these should be able to lower the water's temp ~1-10C below ambient before sending it to the cpu. I'm just looking for a novelty (bragging rights) more than uber cold cooling like that liquid nitrogen setup I saw a few days ago in the cpu/overclocking forums.

This is something I can't afford to do right now, just wishful thinking atm.