Initially I used a closed cell foam barrier to protect my peltier and cold plate from condensation, as you can see to the right. This setup was effective but there were problems inherent to using any kind of material around the socket to insulate the peltier and cold plate against condensation. Any foam or material around the CPU has the tendency initially to get in the way of the CPU, cold plate, peltier, and water block assembly. The risk of having an improperly mated cold plate and CPU can quickly burn out an AMD based processor and even an Intel processor. There is no way to be sure you are getting 100% full contact of all surfaces if you utilize foam or any other material as an insulator. Of course the hardcore overclocker knows that 100% full flat contact will lead to the lowest temperatures and allow for the greatest overclocking. Even assembling the surfaces ahead of time still allows for the potential of foam or insulation to be pushed between your plates while putting it into place.