My problem with peltier coolers and water coolers is that I don't want to have to deal with condensation/moisture

Condensation could be a problem with peltier, but not with a normal water cooling setup. Because the water temperature will NEVER drop below room temperature there is no chance of condensation.

This story changes when peltiers are used. But as said in my previous post, you'll need a pretty hefty peltier to really get that temperature down.
In practice, temperatures up to +/- 15°C (59°F) won't give you any problems with condensation.
However, this is dependant on air humidity. If this is tried in a region where the air humidity is high, you setup might start developing condensation even from the point when the temperatures go below room temperature. (this is exceptional though)

I added a second picture of my water cooling install. Appologies for the bad quality of the pics, they were taken with my Nokia 7650 cell phone for lack of a real digital camera. This was right before the cooling rig was fitted into my case. The pump was already installed at that point.

The shuttle sff pc's use a heat pipe from the cpu to a small block of fins with a fan. This page has some pictures. The shuttle system works good it still has a fan though.

I wonder if I could make something similar and have a large passive heatsink sticking out of the case. I don't care about GPU cooling I am not a pc gamer.

I think that what a couple of people have alluded too, but have not categorically stated is;

Peltiers create a lot more heat than they pull from the processor. Their benefit in overclocking is that they can cool below ambient, but that extra heat still has to go somewhere.

One of the big voodoo things Dell does is the hard drive rails. There's a strip of semi-soft rubber between the rail and the drive, and the screws are mounted in rubber feet, so nothing touches the hard disk except rubber. It's amazing how much vibration thos buggers can cause. And vibration is the root of all sound in your computer. Example, take a loud fan and hold it in your hand, while it's on. No matter how loud it was in your case, they're all quiet when they aren't making your case vibrate.

Peltiers create a lot more heat than they pull from the processor. Their benefit in overclocking is that they can cool below ambient, but that extra heat still has to go somewhere.

That's very true. This is a direct consequence of their low effciency rate. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear about this.

Is the drive still grounded to the casing though? They're supposed to be from what I hear and if you don't then the chances drive failure are higher.

- Trevor

Isn't that what those two black wires are for?

Not sure if the power ground is actually connected to the casing. Some of the drives I've got have actually a seperate grounding tab for you to connect to. As I said, I could be wrong. It's just what I've heard.

- Trevor

http://www.warp2search.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13396

Here's the one for a P4 . The rumor is they are supposed to cost about 900 USD for the case.

True, but I still want one !
NO fans in the case anymore, not even in the PSU! Aaah! The sweet sound of silence!

Ah, that's it. That's what I want! Even heatpipes for the hard disk, nice.

Well, now I see why they don't make PCs like that... expensive!

Still, really really cool (in both senses of the word).

Agreed!
I've been looking into this thing for a couple of weeks now, but there isn't that much information to be found on it yet. I have found two other links. The first link provides some additional information. Link 1, Link 2

I contacted Zalman on the matter, more specifically about when it would be available, and this was what they had to say :

Thank you for your question.
The TNN500A will be on Korean and Japanes market first by September 2003. Launching time of the TNN500A to other conturys will be posted, when all seted, by our home page.

--- There is no fan in TNN(Totally No Noise)500A, also not in the PSU! so it's a TNN. The HDD noise also can not go out because 5mm~7mm thicness AL case prevent the HDD noise.

sclee/zalman

Very nice! Thanks for posting that, I'll be keeping my eye on it too, though I can't see myself paying that much for it

Speaking of quiet computer fans and Zalman, I just ordered one of their new products. I couldn't find the all-copper version for sale anywhere, but Directron had the aluminum/copper version which will be fine for me. I've become convinced that the fan which came with my AMD CPU is defective, as the noise it makes can't possibly be simple fan noise. It sounds like the bearings are off.

I just hope the new HSF will fit my mobo/CPU/case

Did you check out their list of mainboards that interfere with CNPS7000 ?

If your motherboard is not on that list you'll probably be fine.

I hope you meant your INTEL fan doesn't work, since that heatsink (CNPS7000) isn't made for socket A - unless you have an Athlon64.

I also ordered one of these, and I already have one of their fanless NB heatsinks. Hopefully there is enough clearance for the CPU heatsink.

Damn! Thank you, sir. I must have looked at the page where I first saw it incorrectly. Luckily I was able to cancel the order quick enough.

That still leaves me looking for a very nice, quiet fan to keep me tided over until that Zalman case comes out.... in the US.... for AMD.... and for cheaper

There is a new version out - CNPS7000A - that supports AMD. The product page is here.

That's probably what I was looking at initially. That fits on a Socket A?

Tom's Hardware liked the thing, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The reason I was worried about it not fiting in my machine is because of the case, not the mobo. The bottom of the PSU ledge is not very far above the board. We'll see

*edit*
This claims to support Athlon XP, but it seems to be the same thing. I think they might have the model numbers mixed up. Well, they must since they report two different ones in the same descriptions. I will say that Zalman themselves don't have the best organization to their website.

Zalman's site is confusing. I finally found where the motherboard incompatibility page was - it was under the "news" column. I kept going to the product page, and I never found the listing.

For my AMD system I am using a Thermalright SK-7. It seems to work well with a slow fan.

So you aren't sure whether that HSF will work with my processor? It doesn't say anything about socket A, though I don't know why they have brand new HSF combos for styles that (I thought) were pretty old...

I need to learn more about the different processor designs. Anyone have a link for me?

I really want one of these Zalmans, but I can't seem to find a place to buy the correct one, assuming there is one that works with my CPU.

It looks like Newegg has both heatsinks, old and new (A). The title description for both are the same, but in the details, one shows 7000A instead of 7000. Also, if you look at the picture that shows the package for the 7000A, the package claims to be compatible for the socket 462 (Athlon) here. I think this is the one you want. The other pictures show the blue and white snaps that are needed to work with socket 462. The snaps are also shown at the Zalman link in my earlier post. It looks like the snaps are the only difference between the old and new heatsinks.

One thing - since this heatsink attaches to the motherboard using the four holes around the socket, you will have to remove the motherboard to attach the clips - a little inconvenient.

Damn. That sucks. I was hoping to never have to move the mobo again.

I must as a question: how many of you use an antistatic wrist strap or something to that effect when operating on your PCs?

I must as a question: how many of you use an antistatic wrist strap or something to that effect when operating on your PCs?

I've never used it and I've put hundreds of PC's together. Never had a problem because of not using it.

I always touch the metal on the case while it's plugged in before I operate just to make sure I'm discharged.

A couple of years back (4or5). Digital was selling an alpha based system that had active cooling of the cpu. They were getting about 700+ mhz speeds at the time. Doesn't seem like much now but it was double what everyone else had at the time.

Those systems shipped with a UPS. But the SysA's didnt bother installing them until a couple of cpu's came up dead. Seems like if the power to the cooler was interupped the cpu temperature would spike. This happened when the entire system was switched off at the power strip. The residual heat would be enough to kill the chip. When the vendor asked about the ups's, they were found stacked in the server room. Unopened.

I also heard that when the cooling system was deisgned, the big problem wasn't getting the cpu cool. But what to do about the condensation. Seems it could get down in among the chips pins and cause trouble.

I wonder what could be done if I had one of those chassies today.

Well, I received the HSF today. This thing is massive! Even if it's attatched to the motherboard, do you guys think there could be damage done if the computer were transported in a car for 2.5 hours with the case lying on the system board side? This thing just weighs a ton! Here's an image I just took with my phone, so the quality sucks:

Yes, it could do some damage when being transported. The Zalman website specifically warns for this.
Normally I wouldn't recommend this, but if you really have to transport it you might want to lay it on the opposite side of the system board side.
The downside of transporting it like that is that your expansion cards may drop a little out of their slots, but at least the CPU fan wouldn't crack the CPU core.

Good point. I hadn't thought about what damage it could cause on that side. You don't think it could really torque the system board every which-way? I usually carry the whole machine in the box the case came in which has styrofoam inserts, and I could place that box on top of a comforter while transporting it. I have plenty of room in my minivan to make accomodations.

But this may all be moot anyway. The unit may not fit in my system. Could there be any problems from having the heatsink very close to the PSU shelf? The PSU fan isn't pointing downward, it's just the metal shelf is pretty close, and it looks like the top of the HS might just barely not touch the PSU shelf. Could that cause problems at all?

You don't think it could really torque the system board every which-way?

No, I don't believe it will. Though I wouldn't be sure in case you'd have to make an emergency stop.
Especially in the case of an AMD processor (which I believe you're using, right?) Those CPU's have VERY fragile cores. Putting a normal cooler on the wrong way is enough to crack it, so I can imagine that a cooler of more than 750g of weight can do some serious damage.
I would really consider removing the cooler before transporting the unit. After all, removing it and putting it back on is an easy enough process.

Could there be any problems from having the heatsink very close to the PSU shelf?

I don't see why it should. As long as the PSU and the cooler aren't touching each other and the PSU doesn't blow hot air onto the CPU you're golden. I wouldn't worry about it.

After all, removing it and putting it back on is an easy enough process

I wish it were. This is one of those where I'll have to remove the motherboard to install it. Replacing the $69 CPU is technically easier