Watercooling/TEC queries

mpj88 · 25 Nov 2009 at 22:11

Hi i am very tempted to get a watercooling setup i have thought up the following spec:

obviously have to add tubing and fluid, also just thrown in the chipset cooler for now!

still humming and haaing as not sure whether to do this or upgrade to i7.

But for around the same price you could get one of these:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-000-CI&groupid=962&catid=1532&subcat=
I admit i don't have very much knowledge in this area but would the TEC provide better temps and would it be noisier?

Thanks

MikeTimbers · 25 Nov 2009 at 22:17

max total: 72 watts. Nuff said.

Well, maybe not. In that crappy little Domino thingy, that 120.1 radiator has too cool the cpu plus the tec. With your system you have a 140.2 cooling just the cpu. Which do you think will be better?

If you're worried about your financial outlay, you are using a great but expensive radiator - try just using a 120.2 rather than a 140.2. The D5 is much more than a DDC and not hugely better. Cheaper rad and cheaper pump and you'll blow away the price/performance of that awful tec/cooling carp.

mpj88 · 28 Nov 2009 at 21:30

On subject of pumps just found this:
http://www.xspc.biz/baypump750a.php
would this be as good as a d5 or ddc 18w?

Its just quite practical for me a bit cheaper and easy to install!

engstrom0304 · 28 Nov 2009 at 22:41

mpj88 said:
On subject of pumps just found this:
http://www.xspc.biz/baypump750a.php
would this be as good as a d5 or ddc 18w?

Its just quite practical for me a bit cheaper and easy to install!

I have had two of those, both broke, could have been that i didnt flush the radiator thoroughly enough though. Not as good as a d5 but for a single loop it will be fine. Just make sure you flush the radiator well.

Josh P · 29 Nov 2009 at 00:46

MikeTimbers said:
max total: 72 watts. Nuff said.

I think that's referring to the power draw not maximum heat dissipation. It states ~250W for the latter.

mpj88 · 29 Nov 2009 at 10:46

engstrom0304 said:
I have had two of those, both broke, could have been that i didnt flush the radiator thoroughly enough though. Not as good as a d5 but for a single loop it will be fine. Just make sure you flush the radiator well.

Did you rma them ok? Are you saying that the D5 is a bit more "meaty"! than the x20 750 then.

JonJ678 · 29 Nov 2009 at 17:46

Claiming to move 250W while using 72W is a lie. Specifically it doesn't state the temperature gradient it can maintain while moving 250W, I'm certain it will be considerably worse than water cooling. To hold a 920 below ambient under load would require a much better cooling system on the hot side or to draw considerably over 72W and have a much better radiator.

I'm very taken with thermoelectric cooling, but I wouldn't touch that coolit with a stick.

Water cooling instead of upgrading to i7 makes a lot of sense to me. I did this anyway. Reasoning that I wanted a new toy to play with and the performance increase moving to i7 wouldn't be very significant, and that water cooling lasts for years.

engstrom0304 · 1 Dec 2009 at 22:55

mpj88 said:
Did you rma them ok? Are you saying that the D5 is a bit more "meaty"! than the x20 750 then.

Meaty is a word for it yes!! I rma'd them fine yes. OCUK were excellent. TBH it wa probably the fact i did not flush the rad properly and it was a particularly bad rad for loose flux.

But you get what you pay for, just look at the prices, of course the d5 is better, but that is fine for a single loop ifyou look after it properly!

Pneumonic · 2 Dec 2009 at 15:36

Put very simply TEC's provide a temperature delta between the 'hot' and 'cold' side, they will apply this delta up to a given range of 'heat' input.

For instance if a TEC provides a 25c delta and the hot side is at 20c then the cold side sits at -5c, given that you are working within the TEC's tolerances.

The 'issues' with using TEC's are:

1) in 99% of cases they require water cooling, as you are having to handle the 'heat' output of the CPU and the TEC unit.

2) to be used effectively they need to be pressure mounted between hot and cold cooper plates.

3) Most 'standard' TEC units will not cope with the heat output of a highly over-clocked CPU and if you don't want to extremely overclock you are better using air/water.

4) If you are using a TEC set-up to take your CPU sub-zero (I wouldn't bother with the hassle if you aren't), then you need to go through the whole process of protecting your CPU and Motherboard from condensation, in the same way as if you were using LN2/DICE/etc..

5) TEC's tend to be very inefficient power wise and are normally efficient up to around 50% of they stated max tolerance, this means to get the best out of them you are better running a parallel TEC set up of low power units and using it as a chiller for a liquid loop and not as a direct CPU cooling method.