Cooling and noise basics

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September 19th, 2002, 04:04 PM
VictorKaum

Cooling and noise basics

COOLING and NOISE Tut (v1.01) by VictorKaum

--- WHY & WHAT?

a) Why?
Reading the forums, many people ask about what memory or cpu or harddisk they have to buy. Rarely someone talks about noise and cooling.
IMHO both are important for home users.

You want good stability and performance? Cooling!
You do not want your box to sound like an F-16 jet? Silent cooling!

b) What?
a tut about fans & heatsinks and noise

c) Credits?
me j/k
Some parts of this tutorial are similar to my reply to Allenb1963 tut ->
Building your own system

d) Bad luck?
Irony... I'm writing a tut about cooling and noise and my pc crashes due to heat produced by a video card with passive cooling
therefor this is version 1.01, and I'm pissed cause 1.00 is lost in the crash.
Lesson: Always save your work... and never make a tut in the start new thread window but better use an external prog.

e) Legal notice: This tutorial may contain other proprietary notices and copyright information,
the terms of which must be observed and followed. Information may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. I'm not responsible for any damage to your computer system generated by following this tut (or trying to). Know what you are doing when opening your box or modifying something!

f) This tutorial does not claim to be complete, feel free to reply and add your comments. thx

--- WHATNOT ?

I'm not going to include watercooling, gazcooling or the microfreezer technology.
The reason herefor is that these are more "extreme" solutions and I have no practical knowledge in this area.
For more info about liquid cooled computer cases, hdd, cpu's, mem,... visit: http://www.koolance.com

--- TUTORIAL TODAY (19 sep 2002)

Try to purchase low noise parts. You can get amazing results only by making sure you buy quality.
This will probably mean extra costs, but if you care or your ears ask to, it's worth the money.

Today's high performance boxes like P4 and AMD Athlon XP require additional and optimal cooling. This mostly also means more fans and more noise. Our aim is to reduce that noise to a minimum.However many people go to a pc-shop and buy expensive parts like MBR, HDD, CPU, MEM,... and then they come to the coolers. They take the first thing they see, "that will do the job". I doubt it.
Imaging that whole your box performance can be lowered with a bad PSU or CPU cooler!
But now we are also talking about noise. So first rule: if you can, spend your money on low noise parts without loosing performance or specs.

a) PSU

If you already have a computercase you can replace your existing fan with a silent one.
For instance for AMD cpu mbr's the Super Flower FP-400 420W it's a silent psu, or the Enermax EG365AX-VE(G) 350W
For P4 cpu mbr's you can use the same Enermax EG365AX-VE(G) 350W. This psu is very silent and very stable.
Or use the Zalman CNPS PSU
Offcourse you can choose your own wattage that suits your needs, above are only examples.

b) CPU

Some cpu's like the Pentium IV (S478) are shipped boxed with fan.
You can use this one but a good replacement is the "supersilent"
Alpha PAL8942 + PAPST N/2GML 80 mm Fan
It's silent: only 19 dBa
info fan at: www.papst.de/english/home.html
info heatsink at: http://www.micforg.co.jp/en/index.html

Another option is the Zalman CNPS 6500b-Cu
info at: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/prod...ps6500b-cu.htm

For AMD Athlon (Socket A) cpu's you can use the Alpha PAL8045 + PAPST N/2GML 80mm fan.
Or the Zalman CNPS CPU coolers CNPS stands for computer noise prevention system
like the Zalman CNPS-6000Cu has better performance, but make sure you attach and install the thing properly...
add some Arctic Silver to get better cooling. It's a silent fan but not cheap, and performance could have been better.
info at: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/intro.htm
Or use the ThermalTake Volcano 9 coolmod if you want to impress your friends.

more general cpu cooling info at: http://www.2fastcpu.com/

c) NorthBridge Cooling

This cooling can be done passive. This means no fan -> no noise. You need to purchase a good heatsink.
For instance the Zalman NB32
Zalman NB32-J chipset heatsink for people that like the yellow finish.

d) RAM (MEMORY) coolers

Want to overclock? use those:
RAM active coolers These things have a fan --> adds noise (about 23dba)
An alternative is passive RAM cooling. Passive cooling means no fan -> no noise!
For instance a DDR copper heatspreader
Or the ThermalTake DDR SDRAM passive cooler

e) VGA DDR MEM coolers and VGA chipset coolers

Add passive coolers to your videocard memory. Like the ThermalTake DDR SDRAM cooler
You can replace your vga chipset active cooler/fan with a passive Zalman heatsink. Zalman CNPSVGA

f) Case noises

Due to vibrations and resonance, a lot if noise is reproduced or amplified by your case.
To lower hdd, cd-rom, cd-rw and fan noise you can cover the inside of your case with special noise reductions mats
Dynamat Computer Noise Reduction Kit is such a thing.
Pax Mate does the same. they reduce the mid and high frequency noises.
info at: http://www.zones.tv/colorcase/v2/index2.htm
info at: http://www.dynamat.com/

Another option to comfort enventual neighboors, parents,... at a lower floor:
use an acoustic energy conversion pad undr your box to ensure vibrations are not passed to the floor

g) Thermal compounds and Shims

About thermal paste/grease, today some processors (like Intel P4 S478) ship in boxes with a cooler and thermal grease already been spread.
It's better not to use extra thermal grease if the processor already has some kind of thermal grease...
sounds obvious... otherwise use it. It's important that the heatsink makes proper contact with the cpu surface to garantee optimal cooling.
You can also purchase a copper, aluminium or silver shim to protect the fragile core while using heavy duty heatsink.
(protect your investment, for instance with a Silver Shim anodized or a ALU Shim)
Good (expensive?) thermal compounds are silver or ceramic based to assure optimal thermal conductivity.
note: do not use the Arctic Silver 3 on older slot type Xeon processors they require a thermal pad. (see www.arcticsilver.com for more info)
note: there are fake tubes sold for Artic, make sure you don't purchase some fake stuff.
info about thermal compounds: http://www.arcticsilver.com/

h) HDD cooling

To ensure high performance you can cool your disks. For instance with a ThermalTake HardCano 5, offcourse this will add extra noise (about 23dba)
info about ThermalTake HDD coolers at: http://www.thermaltake.com/products/hdcoolerMenu.htm
Most of the HDD coolers will produce (a lot of) noise. Make sure to check noise specs if you need one.

the HDD itself -> many manufacturers sell low noise versions. Buy those. it's kind a strange if your are used to your hdd noises whenr eading or writing adn suddenly you do not hear your new disk. But it's heaven for ears and concentration. I know I do not hear my Maxtors running. I have silent Seagate drives too. And Seagate has recently released new noise reduction technology in their new high capacity high speed drives.

i) Rounded Cables

Rounded cables are not only nice looking, but they also increase performance cause they garantee better airflow in your case.
Next, they will reduce noise cause they lower the need for high speed fans. The fans can run at lower rpm reducing noise
Some ppl say you can hear flat cables making high frequencie noises, rounded cables don't have this noise.

j) And last but not least additional case fans

Depending on your case and computer specs you will need to add fans.
Some modern cases come either with 1 or 2 additional fans or most have place to install them.
To ensure good airflow you will need to create a proper intake and outtake making the cold air cooling the hot components
Most Pentium I cases and older were build to generate a downside -> upside airflow from the front to the PSU located at the back.
While back in those days that usualy was enough to ensure appropriate cooling, modern cpu's, videocards and other parts need additional cooling.
This can be done by adding a fan right on top of your cpu location. You will need to cut a hole in your case and install a fan in it. This can either be a 60, 80 or 120mm silent! fan.
If you do not want to do that with your case, you can easily install an additional fan in most ATX desktop and tower models at the front and the back. Make sure that you place the fans in the right direction!
A bad placed fan will add noise and will not decrease temperature and lower performance. You should place one or more intake fans on front and one or more outtake fans at the back.
Eventual add an extra intake fan at the back to cool memory and cpu.
Our aim is to reduce computer noise, therefor we will replace loud fans with silent ones.
For example with PAPST fans. PAPST is known for their reliable and low noise fans.
info at: http://www.papst.de/english/products_start.html

note: Do not add extra fans for nothing (like 10 fans to look cool)! This will only increase noise.
If your box is cool (temperature) enough, no extra extra fans are needed if you do not want to overclock.

--- Notes

general note: it's always better to have rpm controlled or monitored fans. This way you or your system can choose the optimal noise/rpm level.

tip: Reduce the rpm speed of fans used in always on low performance boxes, like home linux based router and gateway boxes. Mostly they do not need high rpm speed cooling cause their cpu usage is rarely heavy. Offcourse never compromise on stability.

--- TOMORROW

Technology changes rapidly, therefor this tutorial can be outdated tomorrow. Use it as a general guideline on components and computer noise. I hope it helps you to get a quiter environnement. The sound of silence.

\/|<

edit: added some HDD info.
September 19th, 2002, 06:21 PM
(V)/\><

great tut!
whereas i can't write a similar one, i have an on-topic point to add for those who read this thread; for those who _don't_ yet have a case, one with an
aluminium chassis
can reduce internal heat by nearly 15%, over a standard case.
http://www.baber.com/cases/mpe_md38black.htm
those who _do_ have a case, probably shouldn't check out the link, incase you want it:)
September 19th, 2002, 09:29 PM
VictorKaum

Quote:

Originally posted here by (V)/\><
great tut!
whereas i can't write a similar one, i have an on-topic point to add for those who read this thread; for those who _don't_ yet have a case, one with an
aluminium chassis
can reduce internal heat by nearly 15%, over a standard case.
http://www.baber.com/cases/mpe_md38black.htm
those who _do_ have a case, probably shouldn't check out the link, incase you want it:)

Indeed, you are right. I forgot to add the case itself. thx for the heads up!

Aluminium is a better heat conductor than other case materials and therefor a good choice. Lian-Li makes nice looking good cases. http://www.lian-li.com/
September 19th, 2002, 09:56 PM
qwerty_smith

another type of cooling, rare and expen$ive but is becoming more popular, is peltier cooling, named after a watchmaker in the 1830s.

http://www.arstechnica.com/guide/cooling/peltier-1.html
http://www.pcmech.com/show/processors/140/
September 19th, 2002, 10:07 PM
c0m4nch3

Love this tut... very useful. I was wondering though, what do you think a good temperature to maintain inside your box would be? I know mine runs at about 125°F. I think it's pretty good, but I don't really have any other numbers to compare it to.

PS. I know I could just do a google search on this, but I thought it might be a good question for other people reading this tutorial too.
September 19th, 2002, 10:10 PM
VictorKaum

P.E.T and temp

I count Peltier to the extreme cooling systems and therefor it isn't in the tut. But yes it gaisn popularity, but I never used it. Did you? What's your experience with it? I'm curious to hear more about this from first source ;)

I was thinking to add the temperature thing to the tutorial but then I realized Europe thinks in Celsius and Americans in Farhenheit.

A little test is touch the heatsink right after your turned off your box. If you burn your finger your box is to hot... ;) this is NOT the adviced method to test. Don't do this with some hot swap SCSI disks -> you will burn your finger.

Ok serious again ->
I'm not a superspecialist in temperature and overclocking. But while comparing systems I know those that work and that don't work (anymore). That way I have some indications about temps. Don't take those for granted. Perhaps better skip the part in italic ;)

With an Black ice Xtreme cooling you should get something like
XP2000+ Black Ice Xtreme Cooling + Maze 3 + 5 l res: 30° C, stressed: 36° C, case: 32° C Vcore 1.75
Those are very good freaky specs.

An AMD cpu will be death for sure if it reaches 90°C or above! Caution, this is way to high... processor death will folow all times, always!
You can run your cpu stressed at 67 or 70°C but this is to high, lower is always better. A better temperature would be around 35-55° Celsius full load. Or in Fahrenheit (I googled for a converter) 95-131°F

Try to stay at least below 70°C at all times.

Caution many MBR or temperature sensors indicate wrong temperatures it depends on your Bios revision if this is corrected or not. For instance with the asus7v333 you can have this prob.

Another prob can be where the sensor is located. If not attached properly it will indicate case temp instead of cpu temp with possible instability and cpu death following. Your NorthBridge can take 55°C stable at full load or even more... but I'm not responsible for death Motherboards, cpu's or chipsets... try to keep it lower.
Without overclocking and a good cooling and thermal pasta, I think around 40°C is normal (idle).

You can search your cpu and chipset at this site: http://mbm.livewiredev.com/cputemp.htm
look for specs / data sheets about your cpu. It will always indicate max die temp.

Perhaps Xmadness can say even more about temps and overclocking?

Com4nch3 to answer your question: is this the idle temp? stressed? Full load?
If it's the temperature at full load, I think it's ok.

If you want to overclock, Delta Fans will probably be more efficient then PAPST, but my tut was about noise and cooling not o/c and cooling.
September 20th, 2002, 01:21 AM
Higher Talshiar

Very Good Tutorial my 1.3ghz celeron overclocked to 1.4 is running at around 140°F when its idle
September 20th, 2002, 01:23 AM
allenb1963

Thats some awesome info Vic, and thanks for the undeserved mention you gave me. I'm gonna link this tut. to mine on building PC's if you don't mind.
September 20th, 2002, 10:37 AM
VictorKaum

I don't mind at all. I was thinking about a sort of chain. Like people start with reading yours and if they think, damm my box is going to sound like some Boeing they read mine. ;)
Anyway you sort of "pushed" me to write this tut. lol
September 20th, 2002, 06:58 PM
Terr

Here's an article I came across for those interested.
A Cool Bunch: How To Put A Lid On The Die Temperature Of Your Athlon
October 5th, 2002, 01:06 AM
titanmike

Thanks Vic :)
Now if i can just find someplace in South Africa where i can buy some of those fans
i will be very happy
Regards
Mike
October 26th, 2002, 04:58 PM
VictorKaum

addition

Titanmike, you can alwyas order those things from the net, there are a lot webshops.

addition

Noise and cooling:
"Always on low spec boxes" and some little mod's

CPU's
Like said in my tutorial, passive cooling is a good idea to reduce noise levels. For instance if you plan to built a ethernet gateway (for instance for sharing a broadband connection) you can try to cool your cpu passive. Up to 80486/DX2 this can easily be done with a regular heatsink since workload isn't very high. If you plan to use that box in a big network, workload will be higher and you will need a faster cpu. You might be able to cool a Pentium 1 box with a good heatsink without fan (for instance one from Zalman) depending on location. Another tip: Downclocking a (old) cpu can decrease heat a lot and increase stability.

PSU's
Another tip to reduce noise on "always on" boxes is replacing the powersupply with a silent one or replace the power supply fan with a silent one. Very silent fans with high reliability and very good performance are PAPST fans. They are not cheap, but you get a system you don't even hear (something like 26 dB). Replacing the fan inside the PSU can be easy or tricky. Always watch what you are doing when opening a power supply. There are parts that can discharge when touched -> no good idea if you care about your health. So if you open it, be sure you know what you are doing. You need some basic electricity and computerhardware knowlegde otherwise it's better to keep your hands away from this mod. (it's not for nothing most PSU have an indication "caution, danger, no servicable parts inside" or something similar). Some PSU's have a little connector connecting the fan to the PSU board. These are the easy ones. You can just unplug and plug the other in. Or make the appropiate plug to the cable if they are different. The difficult ones are those where the fan cable is soldered to the board. Perhaps a new PSU is an easier solution but if you like modding your box...
January 22nd, 2003, 12:19 PM
drew

if i wanted to make a case of my own so it would be quiet and cool what matirials would you suggest? i was thinking of keeping the power away from the mobo due to heat and to keep hdd/cdrw etc away from mobo so no etra heat would be produced. i know it don't sound right, but i just wanted to see what works best. any ideas?
January 22nd, 2003, 02:41 PM
VictorKaum

Drew the best way to built a cool case is using silver. This is one of the best warmth conductors. Your case wil be an enormous cooling system ;)
Offcourse silver is a little expensive, so better go for aluminium.
You can use any material you want as long as you have a design in mind that can be cooled. (humm sounds obviuos, sorry)
The design and the creation of a proper airflow is important. Cabling! Ventilation holes! Look at SGI boxes, the Indy for instance has only one fan that doesn't even run all the time cause they made a proper case at SGI. Like they always tend to do. However with today technology an active sort of cooling (mostly with fans) is (almost) inevitable.

(If you want to go experimental, peltier cooling is something freaky to use, but be carefull a wrongly placed peltier (wrong side of the conductor at cpu side) can heat up your cpu in stead of cooling down.)

Keeping the power away means that the fan inside your psu can't be used for system cooling but only for power adaptor cooling. Therefor make sure you add a (silent) fan to drive the warmth away from components. You can make a casefan right above your cpu fan to get the warmth outside the box. Keeping Hdd's and Cdrw's away will possibly be some help, however make sure they are earthed, that means connected to a metal case. You can also buy rounded cables with inbuilt earth wire to reduce the chance of ESD. It's important that HDD's and CDRW's are connected to a metal surface in your box cause they have mechanical rotating parts that may produce static electricity. However many modders don't seem to care about that. I have to admit that I have used experimental boxes without metal cases myself. Perhaps I was lucky not to get problems with ESD? Who knows

Keeping psu and hdd / cdrw and stuff far from eachother and the mobo will require longer cables and will higher costs. But if it's some thing you have in mind for the project I wouldn't care those extra little bucks, it's not going to be that enormous extra cost but yeah when it comes down to some little extra money for one little tweaky extra feature...
March 2nd, 2003, 12:26 PM
VictorKaum

I recently saw a box in plexi with separated parts. Keeping the mobo / disks / power away from eachother gave that modded case a reasonable temperature with the used low noise fans. They used a Zalman cooler for the CPU. We all know these Zalman coolers are incredibly silent but not as powerfull as for instance a (loud) Delta cooler therefor I think that here the case was properly made ensuring that the Zalman could easily decrease the cpu temp and get the heat outside. The seperated parts where cooled by fans with sintec sleeve beering (very silent).
March 8th, 2003, 06:29 PM
n0t 1337

I really cant say that that tutorial is comprehensive. As A die hard overclocker, I would like to add some things to the cpu cooling section (no offence intended).

First, the Zalman cpu coolers have never been regaurded as very high performance. If you want a quiet box for grandma, they are fine- but If you want good temps (and im assuming you do if you are reading this thread) they are just no good.

If you must aircool. The thermalright sk7 and sk8 are good as well as the alphas. Also, I did not see and mention of artic silver there- That can make a good 5c difference in some circumstances over standard white goop.

For real overclocking, watercooling or phase-change is the only way to go. This has advantages not immediatly apparent in some of the numbers. For one, because the heat is ejected by the radiator, you can choose where it comes out (ie outside the case). This keeps case temps nice and cool and eliminates the need for case fans. Also, when you are overclocking, watercooling handles voltage/load changes better. Say you have a watercooling solution and and air cooling solution at 35c. When you increase the voltage by .2 or something, the air will go up to 43c, but the water will stay at 38c.

For many sickos (including me). Just watercooling is not enough. A relitively cheap way to get temps hovering just above zero is to by a small mini cube fridge (not the thermoelectric type) and stick the evaporator (part that gets cold) in a 5 gallon or so resivior. Insulate the lines and the cpu with foam/neoprene/dielectric grease/silicone and you have 3c temps spending as little as $225 (the price of many commercial watercooling solutions)

Another option for the lazy are premade phase change kits (vapochill and prometia). These usally run around $500, but will keep cpu temps at -5c or so. For the non lazy, direct die phase change can be made for about $200 (see www.phase-change.com for more info on that).

Hope that helped someone.
March 11th, 2003, 02:46 PM
VictorKaum

Quote:

Originally posted here by n0t 1337
I really cant say that that tutorial is comprehensive. As A die hard overclocker, I would like to add some things to the cpu cooling section (no offence intended).

First remark: this tutorial is NOT about oc' ing but about noise and cooling.
It says "basic cooling and noise" tut. So first of all: basic
and second noise!

Quote:

First, the Zalman cpu coolers have never been regaurded as very high performance. If you want a quiet box for grandma, they are fine- but If you want good temps (and im assuming you do if you are reading this thread) they are just no good.

what do I say about the Zalman CPU fan for AMD based systems?

Quote:

It's a silent fan but not cheap, and performance could have been better.

like I mentioned -> for better performance choose active cooling like Delta fans.

Quote:

If you want to overclock, Delta Fans will probably be more efficient then PAPST, but my tut was about noise and cooling not o/c and cooling.

The Zalman coolers indeed do not provide enough air flow to ensure proper system cooling / cpu cooling specially when you oc. Besides I always mentioned the ALPHA + PAPST as first choice and the Zalman as a supersilent alternative. Anyway you are right, in most cases Zalman's are just not a good idea. So I had better explained why not to use Zalman's but I mentioned them cause of their good acoustic conditions.

Quote:

If you must aircool. The thermalright sk7 and sk8 are good as well as the alphas. Also, I did not see and mention of artic silver there- That can make a good 5c difference in some circumstances over standard white goop.

Read better, I mentioned the Alpha's (IMHO these are the best heatsinks together with silent PAPST fans. Read more carefully, my whole section g) goes about compounds!

Quote:

g) Thermal compounds and Shims
About thermal paste/grease, today some processors (like Intel P4 S478) ship in boxes with a cooler and thermal grease already been spread.
It's better not to use extra thermal grease if the processor already has some kind of thermal grease...
sounds obvious... otherwise use it. It's important that the heatsink makes proper contact with the cpu surface to garantee optimal cooling.
You can also purchase a copper, aluminium or silver shim to protect the fragile core while using heavy duty heatsink.
(protect your investment, for instance with a Silver Shim anodized or a ALU Shim)
Good (expensive?) thermal compounds are silver or ceramic based to assure optimal thermal conductivity.
note: do not use the Arctic Silver 3 on older slot type Xeon processors they require a thermal pad. (see www.arcticsilver.comfor more info)
note: there are fake tubes sold for Artic, make sure you don't purchase some fake stuff.
info about thermal compounds: http://www.arcticsilver.com/

And if that wasn't enough, in the CPU section (where you are talking about) I said:

Quote:

add some Arctic Silver to get better cooling

You said:

Quote:

For real overclocking, watercooling or phase-change is the only way to go. This has advantages not immediatly apparent in some of the numbers. For one, because the heat is ejected by the radiator, you can choose where it comes out (ie outside the case). This keeps case temps nice and cool and eliminates the need for case fans. Also, when you are overclocking, watercooling handles voltage/load changes better. Say you have a watercooling solution and and air cooling solution at 35c. When you increase the voltage by .2 or something, the air will go up to 43c, but the water will stay at 38c.

Completly true. I agree. But read what I said on top of the tut in the 'what not section'.

Quote:

I'm not going to include watercooling, gazcooling or the microfreezer technology.
The reason herefor is that these are more "extreme" solutions and I have no practical knowledge in this area.
For more info about liquid cooled computer cases, hdd, cpu's, mem,... visit: http://www.koolance.com

YOu again:

Quote:

For many sickos (including me). Just watercooling is not enough. A relitively cheap way to get temps hovering just above zero is to by a small mini cube fridge (not the thermoelectric type) and stick the evaporator (part that gets cold) in a 5 gallon or so resivior. Insulate the lines and the cpu with foam/neoprene/dielectric grease/silicone and you have 3c temps spending as little as $225 (the price of many commercial watercooling solutions)

I'm at least honest, and admit that I'm not a specialist in those areas to write a tut. I can built a water cooled or a micro freezer system, but I think one should have gained enough practical and theoretical experience with an item before writing a tut.

But anyway thx you added this extra info about thge temperature decrease, this can help a lot of people just get their system those few degrees lower they wanted it to be.

not1337:

Quote:

Another option for the lazy are premade phase change kits (vapochill and prometia). These usally run around $500, but will keep cpu temps at -5c or so. For the non lazy, direct die phase change can be made for about $200 (see www.phase-change.com for more info on that).
Hope that helped someone.

Ok, this last thing was a real addition.
Again, all you say is perfectly true when talking about oc'ing. And I'm with you when complaining about my tut. Off course Zalman coolers do not have the performance like other coolers do and compared to wc or microfreezer they are a waste of money but this tutorial just had different goals. Sorry

Anyways good addition without being to the point. This tutorial was really on: COOLING and NOISE, so it's about reducing noise while still keeping decent cooling.

Quote:

Today's high performance boxes like P4 and AMD Athlon XP require additional and optimal cooling. This mostly also means more fans and more noise. Our aim is to reduce that noise to a minimum.

Anyway, like I said, the tutorial is in no way comprehensive and therefor all inputs are welcome. It would been really dumb to claim that the tutorial was complete, therefor all info that can help members wether it's noise and cooling or it's oc'ing and cooling is appreciated (I think). So I'm not trying to 'get you back' not1337 or something similar, no I'm trying to clear out that this wasn't about oc'ing and that when it was about oc'ing it would have been a very bad tutorial. ;)
July 26th, 2003, 04:41 PM
fl34bit3

To the post about using peltiers. I have tried to use them once. I didnt get far due to a crack in the body of the peltier (but thats what you get for buying cheap and not from a dealer) They are fussy and you have to protect everything from condensation that will occur. Also if you dont have enough power coming from your PSU you could be in for a [sarcasm]"fun"[/sarcasm] time. I would personally like a phase change system and am working on an LN2 cooling system but as you said this isnt a tutorial on extreme cooling.

PeacE
-BoB