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. TrashBench on YouTube answered that question in a recent video, putting an RTX 4060 and RTX 3070 to the test using a homemade Peltier liquid cooling system using AIOs, a custom loop, and homemade DC controllers. Sadly, testing revealed that despite having thermoelectric properties, the results were underwhelming.
For the uninitiated, Peltier liquid cooling takes advantage of the thermoelectric effect to achieve sub-ambient temperatures. A semiconducting material is attached to a liquid cooling system and an electric power source. Electricity cools one side of the semiconducting material but generates heat on the other side. In practice, liquid coolers with this tech rely on the semiconducting material to cool the chip, while the liquid cooling portion is largely focused on removing heat from the semiconducting material itself.
