At the moment I cool my 3.4ghz 560j @ 3.9GHZ with a bix3 and bip1. the cpu is cooled in series with my gpu (x600pro). Iam looking into getting a tec for the cpu and gpu, but was wondering how to power these. I have seen Meanwell styled psu's on ebay but i dont understand which one to get. On the Cpu I would be using a 170watt pelt and on the graphics a 80. Also, is it possible to join the tec to my blocks with arctic silver thermal adhesive? The reason i ask is that i have put alot of work into my cooling and are still getting pretty average temps (41-45)celcius...... please advise me. iam new to tec cooling but have a good understanding of the risks envolved with it. thanks
How about this PSU......Will it be sufficient??? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Industrial-4...877918776QQcategoryZ79253QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
A TEC gives you a standard cooling package. It doesnt vary like CPU output, you will be cooling 250W of heat regardless of how your system is operating. If you dont cool it sufficiently the effect will reverse and actually heat your processor. You need to have as much heat removal capacity as possible. 41-45 aint bad, you could up it some more just with that. 3.4-3.9 is alright, you could get 4-4.2 with good ram/good board/good psu. Most good boards will do 1200FSB solidly, 1400 inter-stably. If you're aiming for less than ambiant then you will need to invest in stuff to protect your electrics from condensation. I dont mean to steal your thread, but Im thinking since all CPUs now have an IHS they dont need a cold plate when using a TEC+WC. I tried aircooling a 75W TEC on Duron 750 once without a coldplate and failed miserably LOL. The heatsink was a large one, and I ran it off the PSU cause the system wasnt that hardcore and it definately worked but I couldnt fit the coldplate below the holddown as well
My Ram is OCZ and My mobo is broken and in the process of being rma'd but is a fatality aa8xe. My psu is a humble 400w thermaltake purepower that came with my tsunami. looking to upgrade to a 500-600watt silverstone. what would be y max oc do you think? On stock voltage i got 4, but the system was only semi stable. I have the potential to up that vmax alot more!! Do you guys need pics?
400W should be fine, dont stress too much and the Abit mobo is a good choice. Ive even had an ECS board do 1200fsb. As long as it's an intel chipset dont worry. With P4s they kind of hit a thermal:vcore "edge" where upping the vcore makes temps jump loads and doesnt make them that much more stable, so if you hit just before that it's kinda opimimum in my experience.
If the TEC dimensions matched IHS dimensions, that would be the case, but the TECs in use on CPUs (usually 226w 50x50mm) are too big and overhang, so coldplate is still required. Same goes for 40x40 tecs, they're still too big. Coldplate is still essential. Meanwell PSU - you want the s320-12, and a 226w 50x50mm TEC partnered with either a DD Maze4-1 CPU Block or a Swiftech TEC Block... Wattage of PC PSU is irrelevant generally - what you need to find out is what the TEC's ampage pull is when run at 12v. Then ensure the PSU of choice matches or beats this ampage requirement, or you'll get a loud bang and smoke as soon as u fire it up or shortly afterwards. TEC Cooling is all about clamping force, not adhesion. The tighter the clamping force across coldplate > tec > waterblock, the better. Using adhesive instead of compound will have no effect on temps... it'll just mean if the TEC ever dies you'll have to replace block and coldplate as well. TEC Coldside > Coldplate : use Arctic Ceramique. Waterblock > TEC Hotside : use Arctic Silver 3 or 5. Problem with 170w TEC - all 170w TEC's are rated at 24v, NOT 12v. (Check yer product specs) At 12v, a 170w TEC is only a 126.8w TEC. A moderately overclocked CPU can produce more heat than this and will thus overload the TEC, making it's use pointless. Use a 226w tec (rated at 15v), and a PSU with AT LEAST 20a on the 12v rail. A 226w TEC at 12v consumes 215watts at 18.9 amps, and produces 215w of heat on it's own. Add on the heat output of your CPU (roughly 100w for sake of argument) means your watercooling solution must be capable of shifting 315w of heat, thus requiring a 2x120mm rad or larger and a decent flowrate. Todays graphics cards produce 80w of heat at stock, therefore an 80w TEC will be insufficient as again, an 80w TEC at 12v is only able to shift 74.8w, and will consume 6amps. For Graphics cards, use the 24v 170w TEC and Maze4-1 GPU Blocks.
I missed this thread as i was out of town. I would agree with Marci, 100% everything he says is true. Im running a Swiftec pelt block and my load temps are about 5C, and under -3C at idle. You can get the block from FrozenCPU for about $125. I run my block off of one of the 12 rails on my antec Truepower 550W which is rated at 32A, i would consider this the minimum, but if you are running SLI cards you are going to need more amperage. Just a warning you will void your MOBOs warranty when you tec cool, because you need to protect aganst condinsation. To do this you usualy get some neopren pads with your block and you buy acrylic conformal coating spray and dielectric grease. Smearing the grease in your socket and spraying the board with the conformal spary usually kills any chance of RMAing a product ever again. If you dont take the steps to protect your computer you might just as well take a bat to it and get some satisfaction out of the distruction that is to follow. The BEST way to tec cool a computer is to use a seperate powersupply like the meanwell that you can adjust the output on, and install a relay so that it will power up when the computer does.Doing this allows your system to run of f one stable PSU and then the high amp load of the TEC is taken by the secondary PSU. This added stability will allow you to push your OC higher while not killing your PSU. OH, the wire that run to the tec can get warm but they should never be HOT, this is a sign that they cant handle the amps your block is pulling and its time to get a heavier gage. ON a side note ( its come up before) if you install a tec you have to use it, you cant just turn it on or throtle the voltage like you would a fan. If there is no electricity flowing to the Tec it will actually act like an insulator and prevent your water block from cooling the processor. Lastly treat your TEC with RESPECT, there are countless stories and photos on the internet showing what can happen if you just f*ck around and do a half-assed job, I myself have had close calls due to carelessness, that could have resulted at the very least in a destroyed chip and block or at the worst a fire. If you do TEC Cool do it right, the rewards can be fantastic though your power bill will go up!
I hope you have enough rad to cool those tecs. With that cpu on full load and tecs in the loop you will need a hefty rad. Maybe multiple heatercores would do it. with cpu+gpu+pelts your looking at close to 400w of heat if not more. Also look at the risks of running a tec. Remember that any malfunction will damage your equipment severely. I remember seeing a tec setup melt the water block because the owner forgot to turn the tecs off when he shut the pc off. Too bad that he also shut off the water setup. He ended up killing everything in his case no exeptions and almost set fire to his house. Fair warning. Its not imposible but you cant afford to mess up.
