Building custom TEC cooler

So I'm fairly bored at this point with standard liquid cooling, and the thermals of bulldozer have given me an excuse to pursue alternative cooling. I figure the logical progression is to venture into the world of thermo electrics. This is purely for fun, I'm not trying to break any WR or turn my AM3 rig into some magical Intel crusher, I'm just bored. So basically I'm looking to see if what I have planned sounds plausible to those of you with TEC experience. I've been doing the reading and research, and it sounds good to me, but please let me know what you think. Unfortunately I don't have access to a mil, but I think I've found a decent TEC waterblock. I apologize for not having any CAD drawings of my plan, I'm just a simple guy.

Overall design idea/goals - trying to keep it similar to Mindchills SB block, but greater cooling capacity. Goals are Qmax of 600-800, running at lower power for efficiency. Will have its own cooling loop, probably 2x360 SR1s with push/pull fans. So CPU-cold plate-TEC(s)-water block -- loop. I'm not looking for sub ambient under load or anything crazy like that, just a nice improvement over water.

TEC(s) - Originally I wanted to go with 4 30x30mm TECs, but I can't find any with over Qmax of 60. Emailed this site about what Qmax they could do at 30mm but I haven't received a response (maybe they are laughing at me? :rofl:). Found this on ebay, theoretically has close to the Qmax I'm looking for but can it be trusted? Any guesses at 12v?

Block - This. Exact size I'm looking for, has mounting holes on bottom to attach cold plate. GPM curve falls in line with a DDC/top in a single block loop.

Coldplate - 4"x3"x??? copper - I'm thinking of grabbing .5" and 1" thick plates. Has anyone tested with different thickness cold plates? Should be easy to swap out cold plates to test, assuming everything else goes to plan. :)


I plan on running the TEC(s) off my PSU (Antec 1200) at 12v. I have the headroom for it right now, maybe not in the future but I can always deal with that later. My largest uncertainty right now is control. I'd like to be able to at least manually control the TEC(s). It looks like the best controllers for TECs are either linear rheostats or PWM, but I don't know of any that can handle the kind of current involved in this type of setup. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for the sanity check.

See this http://shop.analogtechnologies.com/A...E1-127-17A.htm good luck with your project!The real qmax of this ebay tec is 270 not 545!!!

the Ebay TEC 543watt is 270 watts Qmax

1 inch is miles to thick for the cold plate

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chaotic

See this http://shop.analogtechnologies.com/A...E1-127-17A.htm good luck with your project!The real qmax of this ebay tec is 270 not 545!!!

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Thanks for the link, I bought 5 of these bad boys and they came in the mail on Friday. Unfortunately.... they are 50mm, not 30mm as in the description. Looks like the website mislabled them. I have to call them tomorrow to see if I can return them. None of their actual 30mm TECs will do the job, so I think I'm SOL for the 4x30mm idea. They have some pretty high Qmax 50mm TECs though...... would need completely different block.

Speaking of the waterblock, it's been on back order forever, maybe that's a good thing as I may just cancel that order if I can't find 30mm TECs around 125+ Qmax at 12v. I do have all the components for the water loop though, so I'll probably hook that up CPU only and see how it does. I was really hoping for a fun project over christmas break. :(

This whole thing might be delayed until i return to the states in Feb.

EDIT: Apparently they DO have a 30mm version and just sent me the wrong ones. At least their customer service is being very quick with email responses. Maybe there is hope yet....

Nice to hear good news keep us up...

Thanks. I'll take some pics if any of this stuff actually makes it here. I need to get up early and call custom thermo about the block, they won't answer my emails. :(

1/8" and 1/4" copper plates on order as well. Thanks ultrasonic. :)

I'm also looking at a meanwell 1kw PSU, 15v. But that won't happen until i'm back in the states, if I get this running here I'll :banana::banana::banana::banana: around with it for a few weeks on 12v.

Any update?