Peltier-water cooling system

[Leonidas]

Asetek WaterChill
CPU/VGA/Chipset Power
Water Cooling Kit
KT12A-L30 [115V/1/2']


Recently bought this, and just wondering if anyone had tips on obvious mistakes that most people make with their first water-cooling system... i havent decided whether or not to buy a non-conductive solution to run it with, is it worth it? also, i have a half-way crazy idea to buy a peltier cooler and attach it somewhere near the radiator to cool down the water, right before it reaches the cpu... is this a good idea? i am thinking of having a flat hollow aluminum plate made to attach the peltier cooler to, and pumping the water through it... any ideas?

thank you very much in advance everyone...

 

[Nubius]

Your pelt idea isn't a good one, trust me, when I was first looking into water cooling I was thinking of the same thing

It will require a seperate power supply with a lot of juice assuming you'd want to effectively cool down the water which takes atleast a 100w or more peltier....not to mention they suck electricity like beasts so as far as cost of electricity bill goes it wouldn't be worth it.

If you really wanted to use a pelt you'd be best off making it part of the CPU, and liquid cooling the hot side with your kit and using a copper plate as the 'cold plate' to make contact to the CPU and the cold side of the pelt....of course you'd need lots of neoprene and dielectric grease to prevent condensation, overall it's not worth it.

as far as nonconductive solution goes, I'd suggest getting the MCP-5 stuff or -40 from dangerden.com, don't mess with fluidXP which is more expensive and doesn't work as well.

Distilled water won't conduct electricity though either, sooo really all you need is distilled water with a 5-10% mixture of zerex to kill bacteria and prevent corrosion (this is assuming you're using all copper and brass in the loop....adding aluminum is a BAD idea and will cause tons of problems)

Chipset cooling will kill flow BTW....they really aren't worth it.

Just leak test and things like that, make sure you got good seals, and have zipties to hold the tubing on and you'll be OK

 

[Him]

Make sure to set up your cooling system and running for like half a day OUTSIDE of your computer, just to check for leaks and prevent blockages etc...

I am contemplating a peltier, just for the experience with it really. Like the Nubi said, you would want it between the HSF and the CPU, with, obviously, the cold side on the CPU. I looked on eBay, and they are relatively cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4660&item=7514335221&rd=1

they are a good idea, in theory. But at 170W to power the thing, I dont know man. Thats kind of up to you. I also heard that condensation was a big problem with those PADS, but I'm not sure the what extent. I was considering just buying an assload of Silica Gel and loading my computer with it, if I had a peltier that is.