xJumper

1: They work best with water cooling right?

2: With water cooling the best setups are custom built by buying parts separately and not in a kit but what about TEC/Pelts? I was looking at pre-made waterblock/pelt like the ones from Swiftech and a few other companys but the reviews on them aren't that good.

What is the best pre-made Peltier/TEC waterblock I can buy?


3: What about systems like CoolIT Boreas and Freezone Elite. They combine liquid with TEC/Pelt so even though they might be expensive do they work well?

zipdogso

In general....yes, since most are high power TEC's often run with high input.
High power undervolted TEC's and smaller ones can sometimes do with a good quality heatsink and fan but only for about 125w or less output heat i.e. not heatpump but total heat dissipated from the hotside.

The swiffy will get a pump in the region of 160-180w with good watercooling and a hotside in the 30's. People have used these to get an e8400 overclocked to 4Ghz., but they aren't for i7 or phenom. You need to insulate you CPU socket and use an auxiliary power supply. It is what's known as a direct die cooler. Other CPU coolers like the coolermaster V10 just plug in to a molex BUT they rely heavily on the traditional heatsink/heatpipe/fan cooling to deal with the majority of the heat load with the TEC's just coming on to give it a boost. The TEC is controlled by a temp sensor/controller.
In the main - with exception of the swiffy perhaps most TEC units appear to manufactured to be powered from a molex -because it's easy for the end user - but this severely restricts the power which these units can work at.

A difficult one....Just about everyone that has bought a premade TEC waterblock has wanted to improve it. In the main it is not generally very feasible because the units have been made to work best at the set operating point and changing TEC's etc is often not satisfactory.
Basically if you are using the latest up-to-date CPU and GPU you will generally be disappointed with premade offerings. TEC's never have been intended to cool todays high wattage computer components indeed there are few suitable TEC's manufactured for this purpose.

You need to assess the the capabilities of the TEC attached to the unit and manufacturers are generally cagey about saying that.


The 12 TEC boreas is a different kettle of fish all together and is a reasonably good TEC water chiller - it cools the water which you then route to the CPU etc. Some people have got good results with this, but again they are molex powered. I can't tell you any more because I would never buy one - It is about the same price or so to make a more efficient, more powerful unit.

EDIT "I can't tell you any more because I would never buy one - It is about the same price or so to make a more efficient, more powerful unit."
Please don't ask...the answers "no".

xJumper

So your saying if I want really powerful TEC's I need to go custom as in make my own?


What would be the best pre-made I could buy? (Like it gets the lowest temps even if that means subzero)

zipdogso

Not the TEC's just the units for them

Due to the power requirement Direct die cooling with TEC is in my view lagging behind at the moment and not the 1st choice it used to be... There was talk of CPU's using smaller manufacturing processes having smaller TDP's but I can't see that on the horizon -we are just going to get bigger multiples with ever larger TDP's so in the future direct die cooling is probably dead.

Multiple undervolted high power TEC's used to make a waterchiller is about the best option and within reason you can make them for any power rating to include CPU and cards at good levels of COP (Efficiency.) You are never going to get this from a unit powered from a molex - max current for safety 7amps. But this is far from an easy job as it is 100% DIY design and build. It's not a cheap option you may find your better with an A/C mod, you just mod an A?C to cool coolant instead of the air.


At the mo' the best unit I have seen is the boreas but it is pretty much CPU only unit (molex powered.) - Steve RO on xtremesystems.org has one with a i7 at 4Ghz+ but I think he has modded the unit slightly. Go to the Forum then the TEC cooling section about half a dozen threads down is "Cooit Boreas -trying to carry on where CornerJack left off" started by Steve RO -lots of screen shots and data - definately worth a look.
And just shows that TEC water chillers are the way to go.
But a word of warning don't think about posting unless already a member - it takes months to get your welcome email.....

I havent seen the Freezone units as they are rarely mentioned on sites I visit, I don't usually trust review sites, after all many are paid, they might say they think something is a bit better than the reviewed product but they will never say it's rubbish even if it is.
from what i have heard I don't honestly think these units are as good as the boreas.... that is a well thought out/designed unit with max.power from a carefully designed operating point.

xJumper

I see what your saying... Seems that TEC/Peltiers are a waste of time, I was thinking they might be a cheaper/simple alternative to Phasechange but I guess I was wrong.

Maddog7771

I would go for the freeze zone elite by cooit thing is al some and consumes only 75w max.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...er-review.html

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overclocker333

With all due respect...I would not... the Elite is half of what a Boreas is... both are good up to a point. If you are using a 775 cpu... these will be ok... an i7 much less.

I would use the Coolit stuff to supplement a good water cooling setup... pump--->tec chiller--->cpu--->radiator--->res--->pump

All depends on how extreme you want to get... nice thing about the Coolit stuff is they have a controller to set a target temp for the coolant.

This will be interesting... we will se if it has what it takes for the i7...
http://www.overclock.net/peltiers-te...7000-t-i7.html



This needs a 24v psu... about $150 at least and probably a 3x or 4x120 radiator setup . So your at the vaporchill/promie price point... but it's a lil more compact... not even close on the temps. Still very interesting... I might try one just for fun.

All in all... really depends on what you want to do... TECs/Peltier chillers or direct die waterblocks or pretty cool... but not economical or efficient... to me... I think there is a market for a decent direct die WB with a controler... mainly for size reasons.

A tech suplemented system would be a good way to get below ambient... if that is your goal... but it's going to cost you phase change prices.

Demonkev666

how about a sempron LE 1150 2.0ghz 45 watts

low enough wattage for a direct die cooling.