AMD · Tom's Hardware
Enthusiast assembles Peltier thermoelectric cooler from scratch
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 outlet. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
Peltier liquid cooling has always been exotic and niche, but only CPU coolers have adopted the technology, leading to the question of whether or not GPUs can benefit from this cooling solution as well.
Key facts
- With the twin Peltier coolers active, the RTX 4060's GPU temperature dropped by 10 °C to 28 °C, and liquid temperatures dropped by 10 °C as well, down to 14 °C after 20 minutes of load in 3DMark Time
- With the Peltier coolers engaged, the RTX 3070's GPU core reached 33 °C and the liquid temperature 21 °C after 20 minutes in 3DMark Time Spy
- Temperatures were slightly warmer with this method, achieving 32 °C on the GPU core and 18 °C liquid temperatures after 20 minutes running 3DMark TimeSpy
- To start, TrashBench benchmarked an RTX 4060 with the Peltier coolers active to get a baseline, achieving 38 °C on the GPU core, and 24 °C liquid temperature with 23 °C ambient air
Summary
For the uninitiated, Peltier liquid cooling takes advantage of the thermoelectric effect to achieve sub-ambient temperatures. TrashBench's homemade Peltier cooling solution was comprised of a complex arrangement of controllers, radiators, tubing, and even AIO liquid coolers. To start, TrashBench benchmarked an RTX 4060 with the Peltier coolers active to get a baseline, achieving 38 °C on the GPU core, and 24 °C liquid temperature with 23 °C ambient air. The YouTuber also ran a "warm start" in which the Peltier coolers were turned off, then back on, to see whether the loop could cool itself back to the same temperatures.