[Darthtanion]

The principle behind TEC (Thermo-Electric Cooling) is that there are two metal plates with a specific metal between acting as a spacer almost. When a current is applied to one side, you have the laws of physics take over where one side heats up and the other side cools down. The more power is applied to the TEC, the more drastic the temperature differences. When used in a PC as an alternative cooling device, the cool side is placed over the processor (naturally) and the heated side faces up where you have to have some kind of cooling system to dissipate this heat. That is why a lot of folks use a water cooling solution in conjunction with a TEC; to remove the heat. Since the laws of physics are absolute, the cooler you manage to keep the hot side of the TEC, the cooler the cold side is and does a better job keeping the processor at very cool temperatures.

And yes... depending on the power rating of the TEC, it isn't difficult to keep the processor running well under ambient room temperature. But there is a down side to the TEC cooling. With most cooling setups, you have some sort of warning sihns before the cooling is going to die. Not with the TEC... it dies without warning and you can only hope that you don't kill your system in the process.

So while the TEC has ups and downs, you just need to decide if the risk is worth the cooling.