Info on Peltier Cooling and overclocking (FYI)

Matt Simis

Hi,

This is a follow on to my previous post:
"Help- Need Power Supply that does 12v at 16A".

Ill just update you all on how things went:

I got the Peltier but no instructions or power supply. I needed something that did 12v at 16amps. Refer to previous post for more details, but suffice to say I bought a 300w ATX PSU in Peats that did 15Amps.

I then had to rig the second ATX psu to turn on and stay on with the first one, from the same power button. Not as easy as it sounds, lots of chopping and connecting cables.

I repositioned my WaterCooler tank to the top of the case and installed the tubing.

I used "Frost Fighter" jelly (like Vasaline) to insulate to CPU socket, back of board and surrounding parts. I also cut out little foam pieces and packed them in and around the cpu socket. This is to stop condensation forming, do to very low temps of Peltiers.
I used Artic Silver II compound on the cpu, coldpate (big lump of copper to spread heat from the small CPU die), both sides of Peltier and on the Waterblock.

The results:
At 1100MHz (originally a 750MHz Athlon TB, a year and a half old CPU!):

Without Peltier, with Watercooler only:
IDLE: UNDER LOAD:
Case: 26C Case: 29C
CPU: 27C CPU: 49C

With Peltier and Watercooler:
IDLE: UNDER LOAD:
Case: 28C Case: 31C
CPU: Under 5C! CPU: 36C

The system is now stable at 1200MHz and 2.00 core voltage (which is way over stock).

This is first run, not steps taken yet to optimise. So far, so good. You can see the Case temp rose, due to the inceased amount of Heat being taken from the CPU. The Waterblock now burns to touch. The case itself is large and ventilated, but filled with cabling and extremly hot devices (dual SCSI HDD, Geforce 2 Ultra).

Anyway, Ill be able to get temps lower, especially under load by installing a larger Radiator for my WaterCooling system, at the moment its tiny..
These tests look good for my forthcoming upgrade to Athlon MP/4.

Anyone any questions, or comments?


Matt

_CreeD_

Why not just coat the whole MBD with Frost Fighter and bung it in a small fridge....

Kix

I don't want to be impressed but I can't help it...

Matt Simis

_CreeD_, the I actually thought about that too! But the jelly does not harden, and easily rubs off. It also has the nasty habbit of turning very watery under high temps.

Anyway, Ive basically got a fridge on the hottest part of the system now anyway..!

[This message has been edited by Matt Simis (edited 25-06-2001).]

Stonemason

Nice to see the looneys live and well and living right here on the boards
I be worried about a minor glich in the cooling causing the first ever recorded case of an AMD CPU being the cause of a nuclear explosion.

Stone

[This message has been edited by Stonemason (edited 25-06-2001).]

Gerry

Good stuff, as you say I think there is potential there for lower temperatures, I'm not sure if you have the radiatior in the case, but you need good airflow through it. It's a good job though, considering the amount of heat your cpu is dissipating at that speed and voltage. I wouldn't go putting the motherboard in a fridge because I'm not sure if capacitors like really low temperatures, and you would need excellent insulation.

TheJaff

All I can say is be very careful when using peltiers, or this might happen...

http://nfs.hwextreme.com/burn.shtml

Not a pretty sight, eh?

Matt Simis

LOL, yeah I seen that before, although he was taking the really cheap way out, 230w PSU (way too low, it prolly would have burnt out after a while too) and a Senfu pump, which are renowned as the cheap and crappy of pumps.

My pump mind you was bought in Pet Shop , athough its one of those magnetic ones, without the brushes of cheap pumps, so it should last a long while.

I really need a Radiator though, might take a visit to a junk yard, pick up an old car rad.

BTW, I tried using CPUIdle Pro, which promises to turn off the cpu (ie throttle it) when not in use, and I must say, it seemed to work quite well. No performance impact and dropped temps to 35C at 1.2GHz at 2.00v under full load! The case temp was at about the same, so the cpu didnt heat over the temp around it!

www.cpuidle.de

molu

let us know when ur place turns into a pool coz of all this, i wouldn't mind a swim if it's warm this summer

DiC-HeD

Is it 'modem' or 'modi'?

po0k

'AHM GONNA GIT GRAMMATICAL ON YO PUNK-A$$ B1TCH!'

Modems I believe sir.