Some VPC questions

[Rise]

I'm an mechanical engineer and I'm thinking about building one of these systems. But before I go ahead and start working up a design, I have a few questions for those of you who already know everything I don't.

How loud is the typical phase-change unit? And how viable are they for day-to-day use? Does the life of the OC'd chip decrease much? What is the power draw like? And lastly, how much maintenance do these units need?

[killermiller]

Think about when a refrigerator turns on, thats the sound of the compressor. Depeneding on your fan/condenser setup, the majority of the noise will come from the fan. Day to day will be fine as long as you aren't overcharged or undercharged. Unless you're 80 then you will probably upgrade before your cpu dies.

[pur]

Yeah, I just built my first one. It's not super quiet, but its not really loud (not loud enough to disturb quiet music enjoyment). The fan is definitely the loudest thing. Wouldn't hurt to oversize your condenser and use a larger, quieter fan, but that could increase the footprint of the unit.

[Rise]

thanks guys... i guess i'll just have to crank up the stereo a bit more :)