If USB minifridges are possible?

[atol-71]

Hi,

If this kind of products: https://www.amazon.com/Generic-Mini-.../dp/B003L4Z57K (USB mini-fridge) are possible why aren't these kind of solutions used for GPU/CPU cooling?

Sami Hulkko

[Murph_9000]

These mini-fridges typically have a Peltier / thermoelectric cooler (TEC). People have been using these for forced CPU cooling since at least the 1980s, but it's not actually that great a solution in several ways. I first heard about it being used to run the ARM3 CPU at about double the standard clock speed (40-50MHz out of a 25MHz CPU, if memory serves), long before the ARM CPU had become widely used. The biggest problem is condensation on the cold side, if it goes below the dew point of the air, but they are also highly energy inefficient and I think there can be a problem with them limiting total energy transfer with today's high power CPUs. Traditional air and water cooling solutions can't go sub-ambient, so the condensation problem just doesn't exist.

If you want to read about it or try it, Intel teamed up with EKWB and CoolerMaster to produce a solution fairly recently:

• Overview of Intel® Cryo Cooling Technology
• EK-QuantumX Delta TEC EVO Water Block
• CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360 SUB-ZERO

If memory serves, Intel's solution can be set to not go sub-ambient (avoiding the condensation problem), but then gives limited gains over normal cooling. It's really a niche thing, for enthusiasts that want to go a bit beyond normal overclocking; not really something you should use on a machine that you want to just be reliable for day to day use. On more extreme settings, condensation around the CPU and socket is a real risk.