Mersenne Rig

[TheMawn]

Originally Posted by simon389

I have experience building computers, so none of that should be a problem. I have a 500GB drive laying around for the HDD, as well as big case, screws, thermal grease, etc. I also have experience overclocking (used to use peltier ).

Peltier was something I had always kind of wanted to get into, but never really knew where to start. I haven't actually done any liquid cooling before either (H80i does not count as liquid cooling) so I would probably have to get into a thermoelectric cooler in two steps. I don't want to have to worry about the inevitable leaks of my first liquid loop while fiddling around with the TEC.

Do you have any recommendations for someone maybe looking to get into Peltier cooling?

[simon389]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

Do you have any recommendations for someone maybe looking to get into Peltier cooling?

Go onto the forums and ask for help. I used the Overclockers.com forum back in 2002, but I'm sure there are others. Find where people are talking about what peltier/TEC they are going to use and mimic them.

The toughest part is the money or time, especially in regard to the power supply used to power the peltier. I went the time route, purchasing a cheaper used psu off ebay, and with very pointed help from the forums I soldered it into usefulness, eventually placing it in a relay with my normal psu. When I clicked the power button on the front of my case, both would spin on.

For those with more money, people used to be able to purchase premade peltier-ready PSUs, but if I remember right they were like $300.

I eventually sold my whole setup for over $300.

Back in 2002, if you had $400 to burn, you could get a setup nicely premade for you. You just had to install it. But I did mine for $100, it just involved a lot of wiring and asking-for-help.

Edit: See this http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=387525

How does the H80 not count as liquid cooling? Just because its preassembled?

[TheMawn]

Yeah by not counting as water cooling, I mean it's next to worthless in terms of experience. I think I know how to screw in a radiator now. Lol.

I had toyed around with the idea of chilling the water with a number of TECs instead of chilling the actual CPU (which would help with the scary as hell condensation issues). I don't know if that's even remotely close to a good idea.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

I had toyed around with the idea of chilling the water with a number of TECs instead of chilling the actual CPU (which would help with the scary as hell condensation issues). I don't know if that's even remotely close to a good idea.

I was curious about such an approach, too. It seems that it would at least avoid some of the problems of having the TEC right at the CPU. The downside might be that you'd use more power running multiple TECs.

EDIT: .....and you'd be limited to above-freezing temps at the CPU unless you use something other than water as coolant. I know very little about the field. Do people use ethylene glycol or some similar antifreeze as coolant?

[TheMawn]

Originally Posted by kladner

I was curious about such an approach, too. It seems that it would at least avoid some of the problems of having the TEC right at the CPU. The downside might be that you'd use more power running multiple TECs.

EDIT: .....and you'd be limited to above-freezing temps at the CPU unless you use something other than water as coolant. I know very little about the field. Do people use ethylene glycol or some similar antifreeze as coolant?

A person might be tempted to stay away from a system with a reservoir and too much liquid. A kilogram of water takes about 84 kilojoules to cool from 25C to 5C so that's over an hour with a kilowatt of cooling power! Then you have to factor in the cooling requirements of the components too. Just not feasible. I don't know how much water a loop with no reservoir has but it would a bit more feasible.

I'll probably try a normal liquid cooling loop first and see if the performance gets any better. The H80i is a good cooler but people have brought up the fact that it can't compare to a $300 custom loop.

[kracker]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

A person might be tempted to stay away from a system with a reservoir and too much liquid. A kilogram of water takes about 84 kilojoules to cool from 25C to 5C so that's over an hour with a kilowatt of cooling power! Then you have to factor in the cooling requirements of the components too. Just not feasible. I don't know how much water a loop with no reservoir has but it would a bit more feasible.

I'll probably try a normal liquid cooling loop first and see if the performance gets any better. The H80i is a good cooler but people have brought up the fact that it can't compare to a $300 custom loop.

Also, you might want to consider if you really need a custom liquid looped cooler, like unless you have quad OC'ed GPU's etc. etc.

EDIT: If it's just for fun or experience though that's great.

[kladner]

[MEANDER]I think going the chilled water fluid route is really much more the province of phase-change, i.e., compressor, refrigeration. And, I guess that doesn't make as much sense as having the cold plate hooked up directly to the compressor system. The intervening water could provide thermal mass, though, in case the refrigeration failed. Such a thing would still cry out for an automated shut down arrangement.[/MEANDER]

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by kladner

[MEANDER]I think going the chilled water fluid route is really much more the province of phase-change, i.e., compressor, refrigeration. And, I guess that doesn't make as much sense as having the cold plate hooked up directly to the compressor system. The intervening water could provide thermal mass, though, in case the refrigeration failed. Such a thing would still cry out for an automated shut down arrangement.[/MEANDER]

Just putting this out there for thought...

If you lower the pressure in the system, then the working fluid might boil at lower temperatures...

On the one hand, you might get vapor locks if the system isn't designed well.

On the other hand, you might be able to use vapor pumps.

Just thinking out loud....

[TheMawn]

I think it would be great to use some kind of boiler directly on the CPU.

[sdbardwick]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

I think it would be great to use some kind of boiler directly on the CPU.

Heatpipe HSF work that way.