Motherboard Insulation for Peltier/TEC CPU cooling

[lordofnoobs]

I was thinking of adding a TEC/Peltier in between the CPU and my AIO Cooler (peltier's cold side cooling the CPU, hot side of the peltier cooled by the AIO), but I was concerned about condensation, and how much the M/B has to be insulated so there won't be any shorts/damage to the M/B. I want this to be a permanent solution, not just a temporary one, so please take this into consideration as well.

 

Should I go for it, or is it just unsuitable for the long run? I was thinking of using a method similar to this:

 

http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=58875

 

The peltier that I have and I am planning to use is this one: TEC-12706 (60W), along with my 6600k.

[buildzoid]

A 60W TEC will not work. To get a decent drop in temps the TEC has to be about twice as powerful as the thing you are trying to cool. So say you want to do 5Ghz on 1.5V. You'll need a 300W TEC to get better temps.

 

As for the insulation. TECs are IMO worse than LN2 when it comes to making water. The TEC will most likely not maintain sub 0 temps under load so you will have water everywhere unless you insulate the TEC very well. Waterproofing the board will also be a good idea. I usually do plastidip on the motherboard and the cover up anything that will be cold with armaflex.

[newlife]

First off 60w isn't going to cut it as the 6700k is a 91w cpu and it would require double that to cool it with a peltier

 

second a peltier for 24/7 use is a bad idea as the risk off it dying and killing hardware is very high

 

as for insulation the same things as ln2 should do

 

for info about cooling cpu's with a peltier check here and i've been planing to do a petlier setup myself but using one more so around around 400w

 

Edit: didn't notice Buildzoid's post but he is spot on although I've done ice water with just vas without a problem

Edited May 30, 2016 by newlife

[lordofnoobs]

So even if I get a higher wattage TEC, the solution isn't really viable for a computer that works at least 8 hours/day?

[buildzoid]

When a TEC fails it fails really really badly and can end up destroying your PC. You'd need some kind of safety system. All my TEC cooling designs have the TEC working as a water chiller because then there is no risk that when it fails it will kill the CPU+MB. The downside is you lose some cooling performance.

[lordofnoobs]

Alright, I got my hands on a 230W TEC, and as someone posted earlier, it now should be enough for the 6600k (right?). Cooling the AIO would be kinda impossible as far as I know, so I'll have to live with the risk I guess.

 

So, if I use the AIO to cool the TEC and the TEC to cool the CPU, it should be alright as long as the M/B is insulated, right?

As for the insulation, do I have to use the artistic erasers as well as the plastic coating spray, or the spray itself won't cut it?

 

Edit: Any ideas on how to power it as well? I really don't have a clue. Thanks for your help.

Edited May 31, 2016 by lordofnoobs

[buildzoid]

if the board is mounted horizontally plastidip alone should stop it. If the board is vertical you will have water running down the board and that will cause some obvious issues. But reaaly you should aim to prevent water creation by covering the area around the CPU with some kind of thermally insulating foam.

 

As for powering a TEC. I usually get some PCI-e or CPU extension cables cut them and hook them to the TEC using a screw terminal.

[lordofnoobs]

So should be something like this?:

http://www.overclock.net/t/410339/info-how-to-insulate-your-mobo-for-tec-peltier-cooling

I'd like to avoid using all that Conformal Coating and Dielectric Grease on that M/B, but I was worried on how the pins on the socket will remain intact, since the plastic layer will cover the area that surrounds the CPU along with the foam, but what about insulating the socket itself so the moisture won't make a short between the pins in the LGA package?