TEC/Peltier CPU Chilled Water Cooling

[06yfz450ridr]

thats a huge TEC . im running a 150w TEC and i should help cool off my loop a hair. I fried it trying to run 15v to it on the molex line on and old psu and both died since i accidentally shorted it. Luckily i have an adjustable switching power supply so i can adjust the pot on it to raise or lower the temps of the thing.

my block i used is a universal gpu block from thermaltake which i got for 20 bucks shipped. the heatsink i think is to small for this tec but ill give it a shot for now.

 

[4Ryan6]

So you learned the hard way not to power the peltier from the molex cabling!

I had wanted to test the low profile heat pipe coolers like that so what are your temps under say P95 or IBT stress testing?

You need to blow the dust off that heat sink!

You do realize your radiator and peltier assembly are working against each other? Right?

 

[06yfz450ridr]

So you learned the hard way not to power the peltier from the molex cabling!

I had wanted to test the low profile heat pipe coolers like that so what are your temps under say P95 or IBT stress testing?

You need to blow the dust off that heat sink!

You do realize your radiator and peltier assembly are working against each other? Right?

haha i sure did and i finally killed both. But actually now that you pointed that out, i thought the way i hooked it up the peltier was going directly to the cpu block. but now that i look again i think its not haha ahh crap i was in a rush and i didnt check the flow direction.


surprisingly it was cooled my temps a little without it even being on.


ahh this is going to bother me all day now

 

[4Ryan6]

So you learned the hard way not to power the peltier from the molex cabling!

haha i sure did and i finally killed both.

Not to add insult to injury but to inform others reading this.

With a standard PC power supply you can get your power from either the motherboards 14g (g = gauge), 8pin or 4pin or the PCI-E cabling, molex cabling is only 18g wire and will not support the amperage draw.

If you use a standard PC power supply to power a peltier or peltiers you'll need a single 12v rail power supply capable of handling at least 25% load past your peltiers spec'd requirements, especially if you run more than one peltier.

The peltier amperage load is a constant draw so the power supply has to be more than adequate to handle the load, this is not a I hope it will do?, situation!

You need to know it can handle it!

 

[06yfz450ridr]

well my powersupply and hopefully my tec will be here tiday. now i need to re route my hoses from the pump up to the tec block.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

What I pain I had for the last couple hours. Couldn't get the my pump to pull water from the rad and water block. Probably kept getting airlocked. Finally ripped it all apart and threw everything out of the case to test it with the pump pushing threw and it was fine. Now the heat sink in using is not nearly good enough for its max power. what's,a good heatsink to use? That or I'm doing another loop with my 2 140 mm rads that are 1/4id with some blocks I have

 

[4Ryan6]

This is probably the cheapest you'll get away with, (possibly work), I was going to recommend the Xigmatek Gaia but Newegg is sold out of those.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

The below will work for sure.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608024

 

[06yfz450ridr]

ahh i think i'm going with my water cooling route for it since i already have everything, dont need to keep spending money on this haha i know those two can cool it since a single one was able to cool it on my old computer for testing, not sure of the water temp tho

 

[4Ryan6]

ahh i think i'm going with my water cooling route for it since i already have everything, dont need to keep spending money on this haha i know those two can cool it since a single one was able to cool it on my old computer for testing, not sure of the water temp tho

I understand that!

There's always uncertainty in reaching into the unknown and experimenting with things others only dream about, it takes guts and money, and there's not that many willing to invest either when they can settle for less.

Like Clint Eastwood said in one of his movies, "Every man has to know his limitations!", so good luck in whatever you do!

EDIT: That was not intended to be offensive, even though after rereading after posting it looked so.

I've had many times to get to the cooling I'm now using, that I threw up my hands from reaching a dead end, and reconsidered what I had already invested in experimenting, but I refused to quit.

You however have not invested anything even near what I have, and there comes a point in any experimentation that you've invested too much to turn back.

You can use this TEC/Peltier CPU Water Cooling thread as a direct example of what to do, and what can be duplicated to achieve the exact same results, as it works!

Or return to traditional water cooling because it is a fully established cooling solution.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

ahh i think i'm going with my water cooling route for it since i already have everything, dont need to keep spending money on this haha i know those two can cool it since a single one was able to cool it on my old computer for testing, not sure of the water temp tho

I understand that!

There's always uncertainty in reaching into the unknown and experimenting with things others only dream about, it takes guts and money, and there's not that many willing to invest either when they can settle for less.

Like Clint Eastwood said in one of his movies, "Every man has to know his limitations!", so good luck in whatever you do!

EDIT: That was not intended to be offensive, even though after rereading after posting it looked so.

I've had many times to get to the cooling I'm now using, that I threw up my hands from reaching a dead end, and reconsidered what I had already invested in experimenting, but I refused to quit.

You however have not invested anything even near what I have, and there comes a point in any experimentation that you've invested too much to turn back.

You can use this TEC/Peltier CPU Water Cooling thread as a direct example of what to do, and what can be duplicated to achieve the exact same results, as it works!

Or return to traditional water cooling because it is a fully established cooling solution.

thanks man, ive spend alot on just water cooling, i originally started with a single san ace mc liquid cooler sealed unit made for lga 775 and modified it to fit my amd am3+. then i bought a second one since it was only 25 bucks. finally linked them together for a open loop. wasnt that happy with the full load temps of it tho and ripped everything out for a new loop and it ended up cooling a little better but i cheaped out with the block using a crappy chinese one. still not to bad tho for 15 bucks haha. now that im getting more experience im noticing that the radiator i choose shouldnt have been the quiet power edition since it has less fpi and i should have went with the 360mm rad i really wanted for a hair more. I was doing this on a strict budget at the time since i wasnt working. it just sucks spending money and being disappointed but i love the fact is there are so many ways you can experiment with them.

hopefully i can get another loop made later today. not sure if i want to use a res or not for that loop since i dont like waiting for epoxy to dry on custom reservoirs and they end up leaking haha. The funny thing is ill go out drinking and come home and try to make crazy loops for some odd reason but they never turn out well but people find them crazy.

i like your setup with the other case i may steal that idea from you since my old case is sitting around doing nothing and need a place to mount my other power supply and stuff

 

[06yfz450ridr]

this is what ive got so far, i was surprised i could actually fit it all in there, still have to make the rads look nice sine there are holes from where the pumps were and to also route tubing, but for now duck tape works. All the brackets and stuff were part i took off the inside of the case haha.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

Hi all!

It's been a while since I posted any new info so I figured I'd post my latest gaming results regarding temperatures and such.

Been playing Crysis 3 one notch below the maximum settings with the 580GTXs in SLI, the GPUs are radiator cooled and at a 24c ambient room temperature the highest recorded temperature was 43c, vs stock air at 80c.

CPU wise, gaming is the only time that I run the 2nd peltier, and the 2700Ks load temperature overclocked to 4500mhz was 31c, with a 13c water temperature, which is 11c below the ambient.

This setup is running great GPU/RadBox and CPU/TecBox cooled, the GPUs literally run half their original load, and the CPU even on one peltier never reaches ambient room temperature.

I'm still contemplating future performance improvements along with shrinking the entire cooling solution down, but right now it's working so well I hate to even consider messing with it.

Hope you all are doing well! Ry

wow i wish my temps were near that haha. my gpus are at about 65c+ under full load, and my room is hot already since the ac blows away from my room and turning my computer on doesnt help any haha.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

well after much trouble trying to get my other rads to flow i got it running, the tec doesnt go about 31c at full 12v 10 amps did see better core temps about 18c around idle and the package was reading like 38? id say thats the one underneath the socket reading temps? under full load it wont go above 56c but thats on 6 cores havent tried with all 8 cores on yet. i guess i need a bigger TEC to do more cooling? the wasnt super super cold like i expected but is decently cold

 

[4Ryan6]

well after much trouble trying to get my other rads to flow i got it running, the tec doesnt go about 31c at full 12v 10 amps did see better core temps about 18c around idle and the package was reading like 38? id say thats the one underneath the socket reading temps? under full load it wont go above 56c but thats on 6 cores havent tried with all 8 cores on yet. i guess i need a bigger TEC to do more cooling? the wasnt super super cold like i expected but is decently cold

When the TEC is tied directly into the loop it has no cold building capability, it will reach a certain point and stall, especially when it's also tied in with a radiator, the ambient radiator is undoing the cold the TEC is capable of producing.

That's what the insulated reservoir does, it allows the cold temperatures the TEC is producing over the CPUs produced heat to be stored in the reservoir, building the cold stored, meaning continuing to drop the temperature in the reservoir.

Of course the TEC has to have the rated wattage cooling capabilities to override the CPUs wattage heat produced, that's a given fact, if the TECs cold producing output is underpowered, it won't give you what you need.

Tieing the TEC together with a radiator is a total waste, it is like a positive and negative working against each other and will never reach the cooling storage you need, you may reach ambient or just barely below but that will be the best you can hope for.

I'm not trying to discourage you I'm trying to tell you what will work, you're trying some of the same things I did in the beginning that did not work, and if you're paying for the extra electricity to run the peltier in the first place, you should want the most from it regarding this type of water cooling.

You need to loose the radiator, and add an insulated reservoir in it's place to store the cold produced from the peltier. You need and insulated reservoir that holds enough volume of distilled water and you'll more than likely end up building it from scratch as I did above.

Any reservoir you can buy today just does not have the volume you need for cold storage, been there done that, building from scratch is the way to go.

What I have assembled in this thread works!

Of that you can be 100% confident, if you insist on learning the hard way, I cannot fault you for that as I did the same, but the reason for this thread in the first place was to share with others what will work, to try to save some from the expense of learning the hard way.

It would be nice to see others building on what's been established as working in this thread to see further improvements from this design, that's my hopes!

 

[thequn]

Hi Ryan I have a question do you have a extra pump for just the pelter in to water storage, or is that all one line from the pelter to the water to the cpu and back?

 

[4Ryan6]

One Pump MCP655 or D5 Equivalent, One loop = Insulated reservoir > Pump > CPU > TEC1 > TEC2 > Return to Insulated Reservoir.

TEC1 cooling assembly runs when the machine is powered up, TEC2 cooling assembly is toggle switch controlled to energize when needed.

The one MCP655 pump has no problem running it all, the Raystorm on the CPU itself is a lower restriction water block, and the water blocks picking up the cold from the peltiers have been physically modified for increased flow and cold pickup across the entire base plate.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

One Pump MCP655 or D5 Equivalent, One loop = Insulated reservoir > Pump > CPU > TEC1 > TEC2 > Return to Insulated Reservoir.

TEC1 cooling assembly runs when the machine is powered up, TEC2 cooling assembly is toggle switch controlled to energize when needed.

The one MCP655 pump has no problem running it all, the Raystorm on the CPU itself is a lower restriction water block, and the water blocks picking up the cold from the peltiers have been physically modified for increased flow and cold pickup across the entire base plate.

man i think im about to disconnecting my peltier from the loop since the block im using restricts the water flow way to much since it drops from 3/8id to an unknown id. If there was a way to keep my rad and make it work id do it but my peltier alone isnt enough to cool my loop. I did get a new cpu block koolance 370sa and wow what a difference in gaming temps and full load as well as my loop not having tons of air bubbles.

it sucks the pelier now only drops my idle temps like 1c at most since the pumps on full now

 

[thequn]

What is the output of you pelter(watts?), the way Ryan got it ruing well was by adding a 1/2 gallon insulated reservoir to have enough chilled water to keep cool, because its not goings in a rad its not warmed up to normal temps. A radiator and a water chiller will not work in conjunction they conflict. The water in the loops is too fast for it to have time to chill on the way to the cpu block. The water chilling takes time for the effect to chill the water enough for its to be cold. Or at least that how I learned it doing ice blocks, and learning from Ryans experiment last year with rads and ice on the same loop.

 

[4Ryan6]

What is the output of you pelter(watts?), the way Ryan got it ruing well was by adding a 1/2 gallon insulated reservoir to have enough chilled water to keep cool, because its not goings in a rad its not warmed up to normal temps. A radiator and a water chiller will not work in conjunction they conflict. The water in the loops is too fast for it to have time to chill on the way to the cpu block. The water chilling takes time for the effect to chill the water enough for its to be cold. Or at least that how I learned it doing ice blocks, and learning from Ryans experiment last year with rads and ice on the same loop.

Affirmative!

 

[06yfz450ridr]

its only 150 watts so me not having a rad with just that is not nearly enough . The new water block cools my computer enough for now even with this QP rad. Gaming temps are nice and cool even in my 80f room, I cant really experiment any more with this as i just bought a vapor x 7970 ghz haha and have to wait for funds to start again. Eventually ill try and watercool that but its not a reference card and ive heard they dont have a full block yet and dont want to risk running just a universal one unless i keep the stock fans and shroud on the keep the vrms , ram etc cool. But then id need a nice 120 mm rad to cool that as well and idk if that mcp355 can pump that much extra heat

 

[4Ryan6]

its only 150 watts so me not having a rad with just that is not nearly enough . The new water block cools my computer enough for now even with this QP rad. Gaming temps are nice and cool even in my 80f room, I cant really experiment any more with this as i just bought a vapor x 7970 ghz haha and have to wait for funds to start again. Eventually ill try and watercool that but its not a reference card and ive heard they dont have a full block yet and dont want to risk running just a universal one unless i keep the stock fans and shroud on the keep the vrms , ram etc cool. But then id need a nice 120 mm rad to cool that as well and idk if that mcp355 can pump that much extra heat

The purpose of the chilled water no matter how you get there is to give more CPU overclock headroom, if you use a peltier to chill the water it has to be more powerful than the overclocked heat it is cooling.

The underlined is stressing the chilled water as there are other ways to use a peltier such as direct to CPU mounting, but that is not what this thread covers.

Without an insulated reservoir to hold and build upon the cold that is below the heat equalization point, you reach a certain temperature and it just stays there and may not even be below ambient or much below at all.

If your CPU overclocked is producing 150w of heat, and your peltier is a 150w peltier straight in line with the CPU, that's not even an equal countering because the peltier is really not as efficient at the cold transfer unless it's receiving it's full rated voltage.

How you take advantage of the produced cold from the cold side of the peltier is very important, that's what the insulated reservoir is for, to not only store the cold but build on the cold stored dropping the water temperature even further.

But you have to be running a peltier capable of producing more cold wattage wise than the CPUs heat produced from the overclock, this is all about lower temperatures for a 24/7 stable CPU overclock.

If it's not about overclocking then you do not need to be water cooling in the first place, if of course water cooling your computer was about temperature and cooling performance, some water cool just for looks and don't even overclock at all!

Regarding GPUs from my experimentation with full coverage water blocks radiator cooling seems to be the best overall cooling option, as the radiator cooling delivers a constant cooling usually in the ballpark of a 40c lower GPU load temperature.

Those temperatures are low enough for descent overclocking of the GPU since the GPU was capable of being overclocked on stock air cooling in the first place, running at half the load temperature has nice overclocking advantages.

However you have to have enough radiator heat dissipation area don't expect a 40c load temperature drop using a 120mm radiator, just the same as don't expect 200w of needed cooling from a 150w peltier.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

its only 150 watts so me not having a rad with just that is not nearly enough . The new water block cools my computer enough for now even with this QP rad. Gaming temps are nice and cool even in my 80f room, I cant really experiment any more with this as i just bought a vapor x 7970 ghz haha and have to wait for funds to start again. Eventually ill try and watercool that but its not a reference card and ive heard they dont have a full block yet and dont want to risk running just a universal one unless i keep the stock fans and shroud on the keep the vrms , ram etc cool. But then id need a nice 120 mm rad to cool that as well and idk if that mcp355 can pump that much extra heat

The purpose of the chilled water no matter how you get there is to give more CPU overclock headroom, if you use a peltier to chill the water it has to be more powerful than the overclocked heat it is cooling.

The underlined is stressing the chilled water as there are other ways to use a peltier such as direct to CPU mounting, but that is not what this thread covers.

Without an insulated reservoir to hold and build upon the cold that is below the heat equalization point, you reach a certain temperature and it just stays there and may not even be below ambient or much below at all.

If your CPU overclocked is producing 150w of heat, and your peltier is a 150w peltier straight in line with the CPU, that's not even an equal countering because the peltier is really not as efficient at the cold transfer unless it's receiving it's full rated voltage.

How you take advantage of the produced cold from the cold side of the peltier is very important, that's what the insulated reservoir is for, to not only store the cold but build on the cold stored dropping the water temperature even further.

But you have to be running a peltier capable of producing more cold wattage wise than the CPUs heat produced from the overclock, this is all about lower temperatures for a 24/7 stable CPU overclock.

If it's not about overclocking then you do not need to be water cooling in the first place, if of course water cooling your computer was about temperature and cooling performance, some water cool just for looks and don't even overclock at all!

Regarding GPUs from my experimentation with full coverage water blocks radiator cooling seems to be the best overall cooling option, as the radiator cooling delivers a constant cooling usually in the ballpark of a 40c lower GPU load temperature.

Those temperatures are low enough for descent overclocking of the GPU since the GPU was capable of being overclocked on stock air cooling in the first place, running at half the load temperature has nice overclocking advantages.

However you have to have enough radiator heat dissipation area don't expect a 40c load temperature drop using a 120mm radiator, just the same as don't expect 200w of needed cooling from a 150w peltier.

yea it sucks my card there is no full coverage water block available or id already be saving for one as well as a 240mm rad.

what i really need now is a bigger case, its very cramped in there and dont even have my pump and res inside my case anymore. Ive always wanted a full tower case but those things are expensive and this is already my second mid tower in a year haha

 

[4Ryan6]

what i really need now is a bigger case, its very cramped in there and dont even have my pump and res inside my case anymore. Ive always wanted a full tower case but those things are expensive and this is already my second mid tower in a year haha

You can always think outside the box, mount on top, mount on the side, or snag an old case and use it to house what you need and run the tubing to your computer.

Even if your finances are short you can go to your local computer repair shop and see what they're discarding, they're always disposing old cases that can be gutted and used for a RadBox.

Just something to think about.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

what i really need now is a bigger case, its very cramped in there and dont even have my pump and res inside my case anymore. Ive always wanted a full tower case but those things are expensive and this is already my second mid tower in a year haha

You can always think outside the box, mount on top, mount on the side, or snag an old case and use it to house what you need and run the tubing to your computer.

Even if your finances are short you can go to your local computer repair shop and see what they're discarding, they're always disposing old cases that can be gutted and used for a RadBox.

Just something to think about.

I did have my res on the back mounted but the brackets were crappy and broke. I dont have anymore room on my desk due to my three monitors for eyefinity so I removed that case as well as the peltier.

I've always wanted to mount my res on its side up top but I'm always worried it won't flow right

 

[4Ryan6]

I did have my res on the back mounted but the brackets were crappy and broke. I dont have anymore room on my desk due to my three monitors for eyefinity so I removed that case as well as the peltier.

I've always wanted to mount my res on its side up top but I'm always worried it won't flow right

It will flow right as long as you set it up right, the tubing would need to be setup in a constant slope to the pumps intake, and if the present holes in your case don't work out to do that, that's what drills and drillbits are for.

Sometimes you have to make your ideas work, that's what this entire thread is about.

As one of my friends at THGF says; "There's rarely an out of the box solution that fits perfectly, so the water cooler user is actually automatically inducted into case modding."

Or stated as something similar! Credit to Moto.