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why didn't you just slather a layer of nonconductive lacquer over the motherboard?

Because that would cause other components to overheat like the North Bridge and CPU power regulator on the MB.
It's also just wet and ugly and makes it hard to maintain, not something we could put into a commercial product. Also you really need to make sure water doesn't get under the CPU. So you'd have to permanently glue the CPU to the MB with varnish to do what your suggesting.

Carnot efficiency:
        E = 1 - Tl/Th

coefficient of performance:
        COP = 1/(Th/Tl -1) in one book
        COP = Tl / (Th - Tl) in another
and COP = Th / (Th - Tl) in yet another.

I can't get any clear definition of COP!
So I choose not to use it until I can find someone who can give me a clear definition.

I can't find my references on efficiency of different cooling now.
But I know freon systems were 25 to 50% efficient and Thermoelectric was like 5%
It's been 6 years since I dove into this.

But Know we had to dump something like 200 Watts to remove 100 with Thermoelectric. So our heat sink had to cope with 300W and not just the 100 from the CPU.

Other references.
http://www.coolchips.com/technology/ccalc.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_efficiency

Dupe from at least 2002. Both the slashdot article and the technology.

I gues they used regular peltier chips, invented a long time ago.
But I can't wait to these get to market.
They have build a prototype fab somewhere in eastern europe, are a little late on schedule because of lack of funding, but it still sounds prommising to me. They have been mentioned on Slashdot before.

Does anyone remember reading about coolchips http://www.coolchips.com/ and their sister companies such as powerchips? The efficiencies they have created in energy conversion are astounding. 1 square inch coolchip was enough to provide all the cooling for your freezer. And then with powerchips they can convert some of the heat energy off of the hot side of the coolchip back into electricity.

I even envisioned powerchips, with their great efficiency of transferring heat to electricity being used in conjunction with the Earths natural heat sources, such as volcanos or just hotspots like yellowstone. And hello... no waste byproducts?

It finally does look like we're making some progress.

According to an old Slashdot article a British company called Cool Chip Plc has something that uses the "Quantum Mechanical Electron Tunneling" to achive "unbelievable cooling efficiencies".

According to the Press Release it is claimed that the device is so good that "a panel about two inches square will have the capacity to provide the air conditioning for a living room" !

In comparison, according to Cool Chips's press release, most existing cooling systems use compressors and environment-damaging fluids and are 40-50% efficient. Smaller thermoelectric cooling devices, despite more than $1 billion spent on research, are only 8% efficient. Cool Chips, on the other hand, are projected to operate at 70-80% of the maximum theoretical efficiency (Carnot) for cooling.

I am not affliated with "coolchips" in any way, just in case you wonder.

Basically, they put a gap (of air or other gas) which acts as an insulator between the hot and cold side of the peltier which they somehow get the electrons to tunnel over. This keeps the hot and cold sides completely seperated, which is the real efficiency issue with current peltiers.

They opperate at 5% efficiency, while top end refrigeration is at 45%. Instead, these guy should be looking at cool chips, which opperate at 55% efficiency.

Anybody with a clue want to compare and contrast this with the coolchips.com technology?

Could someone please come up with a reasonable theory on what the hell the dolphin-with-pick-ax logo is supposed to be before my head explodes?