An Overclocking Journey: Part II
What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been…

Time to Make the Spacers…

Wow!  Making spacers for the back of my CPU from a pen barrel made me feel like good old MacGyver (What a great show… Why did they ever cancel it?).  At that point I had an overwhelming sense of confidence that I could get out of any potentially sticky situation or accomplish anything with just a roll of duct tape, paper clips, and a foil wrapper from some Wrigley’s Double Mint gum in my arsenal. 

I find it truly amazing how resourceful people are.  I kick myself in the pants, though.  I often wonder why I never think of these things first.  “Hmm… Let’s see.  I have to find some way to keep this conductive aluminum “H” plate from contacting the back of my CPU.  Let’s see.     Eureka!!!  This ball point pen in my pocket protector will work just fine!”    Never in a million years.  I guess I’m just not a dreamer like that…    The biggest chore in this procedure is getting all four spacers flat and at an even 60mm each.   Anyway, it’s a relatively simple process and it works great.   

Hey!  Watch Where You Stick That Thing…

 I found a great little thermal transfer trick at Millisec.com that achieves more surface contact between my peltier cold plate and CPU.  At first I was doubtful that this could possibly achieve positive results.  But, much to my chagrin (Hah!  I’ve always wanted to use that phrase in a sentence.), I recorded a 3º-Celsius drop in CPU temperature from simply     increasing the contact area with the stacked Bergquist thermal pads.  Wow!   

This is a relatively simple process, too.  I won’t go into much detail because Jim at Millisec.com has some detailed step-by-step instructions (link below) at his site.  Basically, you get 4-5 thermal pads, cut them to the size of your CPU, stack them together, cut out the center section to accommodate the CPU slug, and stick it to the CPU.  The pads are self adhesive, but you still have to apply thermal paste to the CPU slug.  And as pointed out in Jim’s instructions, it’s wise to apply thermal paste to the entire top surface of the assembly. 

Another item that made a huge difference was the 1/4" copper cold plate used with my peltier.  I'm not an expert in thermodynamics, but it's pretty clear that the copper cold plate holds the coolness produced from the cold side of the peltier more efficiently than an aluminum cold plate can.  From what I've read, aluminum is much better for dissipating the heat and the copper stores it longer because of its density.  I may be wrong... 

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