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bobkoure · 04-07-2006, 11:05 AM

Did they spec room temp, fan db and how they are getting their temps?

I'm sitting at a desktop box right now which is moderately overclocked, w/c ed set up for low noise (low powered pump, swiftech 5002, montego heater core, very undervolted nexxos fan).
My diode reported temps stay within 8C of room temps with normal usage (including photoshop stuff which can push the CPU pretty hard but only for minutes at a time) and within 12C when multi-hour testing with CPU Burn. Not that diode temps mean anything, BTW, except that, on the same motherboard and CPU, higher numbers probably mean hotter
At one point, I tried turning the fan up - my temps drop a few C, but I don't get any additional overclock, so, back to quiet.

So...using TECs, and the extra complication and extra power consumption to stay "under 30" just isn't that interesting - at least not to me. Feel free to buy one, if you like.
The major advantage seems to be that because you can get the fins of your "heat exchanger" (sure looks like a rad to me and it's not phase change) hot in comparison to the air being passed through it, which might allow good heat transfer even with low to moderate airflow, so quiet fans maybe and TECs are quiet.
Of course, if the TECs are running off your PC PS, the fan for that is going to stay pretty ramped up.
And there's the whole issue of consuming more power than you need to get the job done - but who am I to talk about that: I'm still using big CRT monitors, and they're energy hogs.

PS: Do they mention if the CPU temps can ever go below ambient? Without proper setup, this can be bad.

04-07-2006, 11:05 AM	#10
bobkoure Cooling Savant Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: USA - Boston area Posts: 798	Re: Biggest Copper Heatsink? Did they spec room temp, fan db and how they are getting their temps? I'm sitting at a desktop box right now which is moderately overclocked, w/c ed set up for low noise (low powered pump, swiftech 5002, montego heater core, very undervolted nexxos fan). My diode reported temps stay within 8C of room temps with normal usage (including photoshop stuff which can push the CPU pretty hard but only for minutes at a time) and within 12C when multi-hour testing with CPU Burn. Not that diode temps mean anything, BTW, except that, on the same motherboard and CPU, higher numbers probably mean hotter At one point, I tried turning the fan up - my temps drop a few C, but I don't get any additional overclock, so, back to quiet. So...using TECs, and the extra complication and extra power consumption to stay "under 30" just isn't that interesting - at least not to me. Feel free to buy one, if you like. The major advantage seems to be that because you can get the fins of your "heat exchanger" (sure looks like a rad to me and it's not phase change) hot in comparison to the air being passed through it, which might allow good heat transfer even with low to moderate airflow, so quiet fans maybe and TECs are quiet. Of course, if the TECs are running off your PC PS, the fan for that is going to stay pretty ramped up. And there's the whole issue of consuming more power than you need to get the job done - but who am I to talk about that: I'm still using big CRT monitors, and they're energy hogs. PS: Do they mention if the CPU temps can ever go below ambient? Without proper setup, this can be bad.