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Keeping Hot Systems Totally Cool
8:30 AM EDT Mon. Apr. 09, 2007
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System builders can serve this market by creating computers that feature exotic cooling systems for maximum gaming performance. One of the best ways to achieve that is by deploying thermoelectric coolers (TECs), which are becoming more readily available as their popularity increases. TECs work even better when supplemented by water-cooling systems; I'll show you how to combine these two high-powered cooling systems.
Demand for PC-cooling systems should be intense. IDC predicts that 90 million 'gaming ready' PCs will be in homes by year's end . They'll all need high-end cooling systems.
In this recipe, I will show you the basics of installing a thermoelectric cooling system for any high-performance PC, regardless of its intended application. Best of all, you'll be able to purchase all the necessary components for less than $650.
ALL ABOUT TECS
To get started, let's take a quick look the mechanics of TECs. Then we'll move on to the how-to's of actually building out such a system using TECs supplemented by traditional water-cooling.
A TEC is a wafer-sized module; think two small, flat, square pieces of metal. It has two protruding wires: one plugs into the conductor on the TEC unit, and the other plugs into the system's power supply. For this Recipe, the TEC will lie on top of the CPU chip. Here's a photo of a typical TEC:
Thermoelectric cooling has been around for a long time, at least conceptually. The principle was discovered in 1834 by scientist Jean Peltier; today it's known as the Peltier Effect. The basic is to pass electricity through a pair of dissimilar metal semiconductors. This creates heat at one end of the junction, which, in turn, causes heat to flow from the other end of the junction. If you carry away the heat from the "hot side" of the TEC, this perpetuates the flow, effectively creating a solid-state, active heat pump. More recently, engineers discovered that this effect is a great way to cool microchips inside a computer.
Because TECs have no moving parts, they are very quiet and highly reliable. TECs also can move a lot of heat. This makes them more effective than either conventional forced-air convection cooled systems or typical water-cooled systems. In fact, TECs can bring a computer to below ambient temperature. In other words, the computer can be made cooler than the room it's in. That's something no air-cooling can do alone.
But effective as TECs are, they do have drawbacks. First, TECs need a great deal of electricity to create the Peltier Effect. Second, they actually generate some heat due to inefficiencies and losses.
This is why I recommend adding a water-cooling system: to draw excess heat from the TEC. However, if the cooling system fails, you could have disastrous effects. The TEC will rapidly build up a great deal of heat.
Finally, anytime you cool a thermodynamic system below ambient temperature, you create the potential for condensation. In other words, as the air inside the case cools, water vapor in that air will form into water droplets. If these water droplets come in contact with the computer's electronic components, the components could be quickly ruined. Therefore, a system builder must carefully prepare the computer's internal components, creating strategically placed gaskets and seals that will block the water and keep the system components bone-dry.
