Installation

The actual installation of the Elite is exactly the same as the PURE’s installation. One starts the process by removing the motherboard from the case so you can thread a long screw (with plastic washers on both sides of the motherboard) through the motherboard and tighten down a metal standoff. When you have tightened down the first standoff you simply repeat this procedure 3 more times and then reinstall the motherboard back into your case. While it is counter intuitive at this point to reinstall the motherboard, it is quite necessary as you will not be able to install the motherboard after the water block is in position. The next thing you have to do is remove your computer case’s rear 120mm fan (if you have two of them you should remove the topmost one).


When the motherboard is fully reinstalled and you have removed the rear case fan, one simply has to position the F.H.E. over the CPU and install the two wire brackets that hold the water block in position (where we removed the TIM we of course had to apply a small amount of MX-2 before doing this, as you will too if reinstalling the Elite after initial installation). Just as with the PURE, you should try laying a towel (we found bubble wrap to be even a better choice) over the 5.25 bays at the front of your computer case and laying the Elite there. This removes any tension on the Elite's neoprene tubes while you are installing the wire brackets. Alternatively, you can have someone hold the Elite system while you do this but it all depends on your comfort level and whether or not you want to share the experience with someone else.

When installing the two brackets we found that if you just start threading the two large screws that hold it in place it is then much easier to install the second bracket. To further reduce stress and to help insure a good and proper seating of the water block we strongly recommend tightening them in diagonally opposing pairs one turn each before tightening the other two diagonally opposed screws one turn. This will reduce the chances of uneven pressure being applied to the CPU that could damage it and helps ensure the TIM is spread nice and evenly over the CPU. Just as with the PURE setup you can not over tighten the screws, they simply slam into the metal standoffs thus ensuring equal mounting pressure on all four screws.


When the F.H.E. is in place one simply has to gently flip the unit over and install the Elite by mounting the fan into the back 120mm fan area. This is done just as you would install any exhaust fan by using four screws that are included with the unit. When this simple and quick task is accomplished you simply have to wire the Elite into the MTEC controllers. Yes there are a lot of wires to be installed but the important ones are colour coded and the ones that are not are very easy to figure out as they are all unique and keyed so that they can only fit in one place!


The only potential confusing part of the installation has to do with which side you plug the wires in and how one should plug in the single row USB cable. The wires are easy, in that you simply have to plug them in on the FAN 1 side. The MTEC controller has a FAN 2 side but that is for a more heavy duty model (BOREAS) that requires multiple fans and has way more TECs than the Elite does (12 to be precise). The USB connector is easy to figure out and as long as you make sure the black wires are on the Ground Shield side you probably won't run into any hassles. We recommend digging out your motherboard manual to see exactly what pins are the ground shield pins but even this is not really required. If your USB port has an existing USB plug in it just check and see how it is wired and then plug in this USB cable so that it matches the other known good one.

The nice thing is if you do mess up the USB connector it won’t harm your system since the MTEC software will just error out and tell you no MTEC controller is attached. Of course, the down side to this whole procedure is that it costs you a USB header on you motherboard. It would have been nice if the MTEC controller had a secondary USB header where you could plug in your USB port that was originally plugged into the motherboard; but then again most motherboards have multiple USB headers and giving one up for 250 watts of cooling potential is more than a fair trade in our books!

Overall this is a very easy installation process that should not take you more than 15 minutes to accomplish. Every step is well laid out in the manual and has been designed to not only ensure a good and proper installation but also reassure people that this is a robust yet a well mannered cooler. Could there be improvements in the installation procedure? Yes, the USB cable connection is needless complicated and could be eliminated all together with the inclusion of the more common double row (i.e. keyed) USB header. In the end the benefits of the MTEC controller well and truly outweigh this minor hassle factor, and other than this minor annoyance CoolIT has once again impressed us with both their user friendly manual and their user friendly installation procedure.