tec

[storyoftheweek]

hey guys,
Where do I get a tec and what exactly is it. I have read on some forums that it cools down the water to below room temperature, but I can't find one anywhere. If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be very helpful.

[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.

[casecutter]

TECs require some good knowledge of watercooling. They can give excellent temps, but there are many many issues too. Condenstion is a big issue and the heat a TEC produces is also a huge factor. How much knowledge of watercooling do you have? What kind of watercooling setup do you have?

[storyoftheweek]

Well at the moment I don't have one. I am totally helpless when it comes to watercooling. Can anyone recommend a good water cooling system. I don't really want to build a custom one because I wouldn't know what I was doing. And also, the case I want to get has two 120mm fans, one intake, and one exhaust. If I got a water cooling system, would I have to take out the exhaust fan to mount the radiator, or could I mount the radiator on the outside and leave the exhaust fan?

[Terry East]

Radiators can be mounted outside the case.


In my setup I have the case exhaust fan going through a shroud to the radiator. This is not optimal as any heat from inside is now being used to keep my radiator cooled. but my video card already exhausts outside and of course the power supply pulls heat from the top of the case so usually my AMD FX55 is at less than 100F/32C

[casecutter]

For a normal water cooling setup, that would be fine. But for a TEC setup, that may be asking for trouble. One thing to remember is the tremendous heat load a TEC is going to put on the cooling system. Besides, you really should learn all you can about regular water cooling before trying to install TEC's.