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Old 05-30-2000, 07:50 PM   #3
Toaster
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Join Date: Apr 1999
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Hey there hop,
Peltier cooling can be a double edged sword.
Reason being is the amount of power they consume and the amount of heat they "create" as a by product of their cooling effect.
Done poorly, a peltier device can add excessive heat to a marginally cooled cabinet which causes other instabilities from other devices. Then there is the current demand from the peltier device itself. The smaller devices of the 20-40 watt types can consume 2-4 amps of 12volt power or even more.
Larger devices of the 50-70 watt devices easily consume 5-8 amps of power and would stress a typical "300 watt" supply.
The heat produces by the "peltier effect" is roughly 20% greater then the "cooling" effect. That is, for 20 watts of cooling effect, you have to "deal" with 30+ watts of "waste heat".
If CPU temps stay below about 120 (f) or so, a peltier is of no value and could be harmful. If after you made certain that case and CPU cooling are as "good as it gets" then MAYBE a peltier could help.
Usually peltiers are used when one strays from the norm and goes for that "extra" few MHZ that resides just out of reach of the norm.
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