What is Cold Plate/ Hot Plate???

[Snuffy]

I have heard the terms "Aluminum Cold Plate" or "Copper Hot Plate". What kind of cooling are these devices used with. Liquid Cooling? Does anyone know of a good link that explains exactly how these things work?

[Dimarini]

cold plates and hot plates can be used with peltiers, liquid-cooled heat exchangers, phase change refrigeration or whatever. The cold plate is like a "cold-capacitor" storing cold so you have a buffer when your cpu heats up quickly. The hot plate is designed to transfer the heat as quickly as possible to the heatsink it is not re-absorbed into the parts that you want to keep cold. The trick to using these devices is proper insulation to keep out condensation (created by large difference in temperature between cold side and surrounding air, you need to watch your dew point closely) I made a peltier cooler setup with hot and cold plate and insulation for a K6-III 400 but I could never control condensation underneath the socket. With a slot1 or ppga on a slocket it is much easier to encapsulate the entire assembly against condensation.

Sysopsolutions has some excellent information on cooling here: http://www.sysopsolutions.com/Overclocking.html

[This message has been edited by Dimarini (edited 08-06-99).]

[Sterling_Aug]

I got an idea from a website somewhere (I lost the address) and I tried it 2 different times and it works like a CHAMP to control condensation behind a socket (or CPU board on a Celeron or PII/PIII).

Tape the edge of the processor card to protect the pins from getting dirty or scratched. Seal the sides around the processor board with silicone caulk and down along the bottom, leaving only a small slot open. Hold the card upright with the open edge up. Melt 1/4 teaspoon of Vasoline and slowly pour the molten vasoline behind the processor board. As it cools down, it will quickly fill up the air gaps and spaces behind the processor and around the processor pins. When the gap is full, seal the remaining edges with silicone. This totally encapsulates the exposed pins and seal out moisture and condensation.

I know this sounds crazy, but it damn sure works wonders. My dual peltier cooler system has NO condensation what-so-ever!