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To: Mani1 who wrote (95007)	1/4/2000 10:34:00 PM
From: Robert Salasidis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

The parts they use are probably electronic heat pumps (you apply a current to them and they produce a difference in temperature between the two sides of the device (then you use a fan to cool off the hot side). If the reliability of such a setup was equal to the current spec sheet definitions, then I would expect both Intel and AMD to test and release their processors with a low temperature higher speed rating and charge a premium for it. I tried looking at the AMD Athlon spec sheet. It does not list a minimum operating temperature (70 deg max), but this is a commercial and not a military device, so it most likely is rated as 0-70 deg C. Anything outside of this range goes against tested chip specs (although if the chip is cooled to -40 on the outside, the die is probably somewhat higher than this). If you operate a chip outside of its specs, then it is reasonable to presume that failure/error rate would be increased. So then my point is still - would you trust your business to something like that? The business community would seem to agree with me on this point (going one step further and shying from the room temperature Athlons as well).

To: Mani1 who wrote (95007)	1/5/2000 3:23:00 AM
From: Saturn V	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Ref-<Also compressors and the whole refrigeration industry is extremely mature and I would suspect all the parts that Kryotech is using is off the shelf, so I do not necessarily see a reliability issue.The concerns regarding CTE mismatches and thermal fatigue are just designs issues and they can be dealt with.> I have never seen a cooling system failure. My systems used solid state Peltier coolers, or LN2 for cooling. However the electronic parts being cooled are subject to much higher failures rates than normal. [ The cooled electronics comprises less than 5% of the system, but accounts for 85% of failures. ] The failure mechanisms are corrosion caused by condensation( loss of vacuum), and thermal stress leading to sheared (or snapped) connectors and wires, delamination of circuit traces on PC boards,shearing of chip leads etc. Perhaps theoretically preventable, but it is a slow painful empirical process, and any design or manufacturing change brings fresh and new failure sites. I am sure that if the reliability was not a headache, AMD and Intel would be selling Kyrotech based systems.If your application is that critical, go ahead and buy one. Even if it lasts six months you will get your money's worth. Ref - <Improvements of 1000 times (several orders of magnitude)? Hmmm > For my applications noise does indeed drop several hundred fold, improving detection sensitivity by > 40x.