Has anyone here used the Thermoelectric coolers on their processors? I do like the combination of water and TEC because in case the TEC fails, you still have the water cooling to prevent instant disaster. They are very expensive as can be seen from this link: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6958/ex-wat-126/CoolIT_Systems_Freezone_Elite_Universal_CPU_Cooler_-_Preassembled_Internal_TEC_Water_Cooling_Kit_-_Socket_478_754_775_939_940_AM2_FZ-1003.html?tl=g30c105s189. Regarding mobo's, I have read that a couple of the mobo manufacturers will have SATA SCSI controllers on them. How about a pair of 15K RPM drives in a RAID 0 setup - at least for the OS and swap.
RAID0 for OS = bad. If one drive goes, all data is lost, the OS, settings, the lot. Additionally 15k drives are only available for SCSI and SAS, not S-ATA. To my knowledge SCSI or SAS is only typically available on workstation boards or on add-in cards. Additionally, 15k rpm drives are hideously expensive, several hundred dollars just for the 74GB version. I would recommend you use a single drive like a Western Digital Velociraptor, as that approaches the speeds of SAS drives but uses the standard S-ATA interface.
If I lose the OS, who cares as I can just reload it. You are correct about the 15K drives being only SCSI but they are now available for Serial Attached SCSI (typically referred to as SAS). The price can be exhorbitant; however, Newegg has the 147GB Fujitsu 147GB for $120 each http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116058Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116058. The upcoming ASUS P6T Deluxe mobo is supposed to have an on-board SAS controller (which can also drive SATA drives (but a SATA controller cannot drive a SAS disk)). A month or 2 ago, I read that Gigabyte's X58 top board will also have a SAS controller for 2-SAS connectors. Your idea of using a WD Velociraptor is still floating in my head even though the 15K SAS would be kind of nice. This will all be tied to a Core i7 - 965 chip. I was supposed to build a new rig for last Xmas but was upset that Intel did not bring out the lower price Penryn's until March or April. At least this time, the top line i7 will cost just over $1K instead of the $1.5K+ for the current top of the line.
Wow, I had no idea you could get SAS drives that size for that price. You are indeed correct that the P6T deluxe at least will have an SAS controller on it.
I really am tempted! That should help clear up a bottleneck (the specs show it faster than some of the SSD that is available out there for a lot less $$$$).
