CoolIT Boreas MTEC Chassis Review

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Installation

Installation

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With bottom mounted cases we like to start at the bottom and work our way up and this is exactly what we did. Though before we started we first removed both side panels to give us unobstructed access to the chassis. To install the PSU you must first unscrew four screws and remove the PSU blanking plate.

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When this is accomplished to have to mate this plate to the back of the PSU using the standard mounting holes. After this you simply push the whole shebang back into position and reinsert those screws. Voila, your PSU is now installed! Since we went with the default blanking plate we have set the PSU’s bottom mounted fan to point outwards so it can suck in fresh air from outside. You may wish to do it differently but where our PSU is a cabled (i.e. non-modular) unit we plan on using the additional space next to the PSU for storing the unused cables. Like we said, you may do it differently, but the end results should be very similar.

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The next thing we installed was the hard drive. To install the hard drive you first have to remove both retaining screw for a drive cage. When this is accomplished you slide the cage forward (away from the retaining screw) and then up and out of the case.

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Then you simply slide your hard drive in place and secure it with two screws per side just like you would on any “old school” case. After reinstalling the drive cage we also took the time to plug in both drive cage fans. You can do this later on, or never, but as we were methodically working from bottom to top we decided to take the couple seconds needed and run the proper cable from the PSU and plug in both 4 pin Molex connectors now while we were thinking on it.

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After all this is accomplished we moved onto the removable motherboard tray. To remove this large and clumsy item you have to unscrew a bunch of those thumb screws located on the back of the unit. Since both side panels were already removed it was very easy to figure out which ones needed to be uninstalled as the only thumb screws left were the ones for the motherboard tray,

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Once you are finished uninstalling all those screws, you just need to push from the inside of the case outwards so as to give your fingers enough room to grab the tray and slide it out. This is where a large clutter-free workbench comes in handy as this tray is quite large and you do not want it placed anywhere it could possibly fall and become damaged.

When you have it in stabilized on your table your first priority is to install the metal (or in our case we used brass) standoffs for your motherboard. As mentioned earlier, CoolIT did not take the time to customize this part of the unit so like ALL standard TJ07s you need to manually figure out which holes need standoffs. This all comes down to what type of board you are planning to use; in our case it was going to be two relatively standard ATX motherboards. To make things as easy as possible we simply lined up our motherboard and “eyeballed” it.

 

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Installation pg.2

Installation Con't

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Where this particular cooling system requires mounting screws to be placed through the motherboard we took this opportunity to properly prep the motherboard for the Boreas CPU block retaining screws. This may sound complicated but is in fact a very easy process. You start it by threading a plastic washer over one of the four screws, thread it through the motherboard’s CPU mounting holes, thread another plastic washer over it and then tighten down a large standoff. Once this is accomplished you simply repeat it three more times.

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With the motherboard properly prepped, you can now go ahead and install it just as you would in any other case. After the motherboard is securely mounted to the motherboard tray you can either install the CPU or GPU. We decided to install the CPU just to get this step out of the way first.

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To install your video card, you simply line it up in the slot you plan on mounting it and then seeing which blanking plate and thumb screw needs to be removed from the motherboard tray. When you have the proper plate removed and have inserted your GPU in its slot on the motherboard you can then reinstall the screw to help stabilize the GPU. You can then reinstall the motherboard tray (or first install any more cards needed and then reinstall the tray) as you are finished with the biggest part of the installation process.

At this point the only five things you have left to do is install your optical drive (which while technically optional is more than likely standard for most builds), plug in your cables for the drives and power cables for the various parts, install the cables for the front panel (power button, restart, etc), mount the Boreas’ CPU block to the CPU and set up the MTEC controller. Since our motherboard was already prepped for use in open bench (and thus came with power and reset buttons which mount the motherboard) we opted for not installing the various cables. We did mount them to one of the two motherboards to ensure they were working but to help speed up the hardware change from Intel 775 to AM2+ motherboards we decided to not use them on all setups.

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We will not bore you with the cable installation process as you should all know how to do this and more importantly the parts you use in your build may require more or less cables. However, before we get to the Boreas installation we would like to mention the optical drive installation process. Before you can install your optical drive you must first remove one of the three metal front bay blanking plates. Unlike on cheaper cases, these blanking plates are made entirely from metal and are secured to the drive bay via four screws. If you try and just pop one of these off, you are more than likely going to mess up the case or at the very least scratch the living daylights out of it before tiring, becoming frustrated and reading the manual for the proper procedure.

Once those four screws are removed you then simply push the plate out the front of the case from inside the drive bay. Once this is accomplished you can then slide in your optical drive and secure it the old fashioned way with four screws. We say the old fashioned way as there is no tool-less goo-gaws or other frivolous things here to deal with, just plain old school screws. This makes for a very secure mounting process but is time consuming and seems very outdated (or even antiquated) by today’s standards.

 

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Installation pg.3

Installation Con'td

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When all this is done the only thing left to do is mount the water block (or as CoolIT calls it the Fluid Heat Exchanger; though technically the TEC housing units are also FHE’s) to the CPU. This is the exact same procedure as outlined in the Elite review. Since we already have the four retaining mounts in place the only things left to do is apply a small amount of TIM to the CPU, position the FHE over the CPU and then install the two proper retaining brackets (both Intel 775 and AM2 have different brackets so pick the one that fits your system). This last step is accomplished by laying the center of the brackets in a grove in the top of the FHE and then using big knurled screws which hold each one in place.

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.

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When this simple and quick task is accomplished you have to wire the Boreas 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! Unlike the Elite model the wires which come with the BMC are actually very short; however, the MTEC box also comes with extensions so as to make finding the perfect place fairly easy (unless you want to mount on the top of the case or something equally strange!). I would not be surprised if this short wire length was done on purpose as the extension cable for the 4 Pin PCI also comes with the additional Molex power connector to allow the unit to get its full 150 watts of needed electricity.

Also as with the Elite review, the only annoying part of the MTEC installation has to do with the USB cable. It is still that annoying single plug style which in practical terms means it will take you just as long to properly install the USB cable as it will to install all the other cables combined! Of course, 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. This setup also has the exact same down side as the one mentioned in Elite review: 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. Oh well, you can't have everything and this really is a minor nit to pick.

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At this point you can reinstall both side panels, plug in the PSU and let her rip as you are now finished the installation process (though we did take the time to stick the MTEC controller in the last 5.25” drive bay just to keep it out of the way).

 

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Software Installation

Software Installation

While it is not completely necessary, it would be foolish not to run the MTEC controller software as it really does take this amazing system to the next level. To begin the software installation all one must do is either insert the CD that came with the unit and follow the on screen wizard. (As per usual, if you have auto run disabled to will have to manually run the .exe found on the CD but as it is the only one you should have no troubles finding it)

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The installation is very straight forward and only takes a moment so all you have to do is follow the instructions.

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When the wizard is finished, you simply reboot the system one last time and then you upon loading the software it will ask you to complete a hardware wizard which will only take a moment. This all sounds complicated and time consuming but trust us, reading about the software installation process takes longer than actually doing it does.


MTEC Software: What it does and why you want it

The nicest thing about the software is the advanced features where you can override the predicative cooling by telling it to try to maintain a different temperature. Alternatively you can also set an upper and lower setting that will keep the BMC’s coolant in a certain range (default is 40 max 20 min) and thereby reducing the noise the unit makes. Of course this noise reduction is a moot point when we are testing as the high loads are sustained but for most people who will not be routinely maxing their cores out for extended periods of time this may reduce the noise of the BMC near ambient levels and keep it there! All in all the software is nice but it is but it is more of a set it and forget it piece of software rather than a daily use one. To us this is a good thing as once you have dialed in the setting you want, there is no reason or need to use this program again and the best programs are the ones where you don’t even realize that they are working!

One thing worth mentioning before we continue is that this unit’s cooling software is based of the coolant temp and not your core's temperature. This is a good thing as not all CPU temperature sensors are that accurate and more importantly the BMC (just like CoreTemp) erroneously reports 45nm Intel C2D’s about 10 degrees hotter than they really are. By using a sensor in the coolant, the Elite knows how hot the system really is and can more accurately adjust for temperature changes. The downside to this is the unit may stay noisy for a few extra minutes even after the CPU temperature drops as it does take a moment to cool and cycle all the coolant inside the Elite. This is a small trade off and once you understand why it works the way it does, you too will come to realize that the decision to base its performance characteristics of its own coolant sensor is was not only the right one but is actually the only sensible solution possible.


A Closer Look at the MTEC Software

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On first glance this sophisticated piece of software appears to be deceptively simple, but upon close examination one realizes just how much customization and control you really gain by using it. This ease of use has been done on purpose to make your experience as pain free as possible. Take it from someone who spent many a month on designing custom interfaces with this level of sophistication and ease of use is hard; it takes lots of time and experience to get it this refined.

The main page is basically and all-in-one informational display page. With a simple glance you can tell what your CPU temperature is (pre Intel 45nm chips only, the newer chips display 8-12 degrees hotter than they are, just like Coretemp does) the coolant temperature, how hard your CPU(s) is working (in bar graph format), the power levels of the TEC’s and fan; and it even includes a simple diagnostics for your pump and fan. The diagnostics is a simple go / no go affair in that if the pump or fan stops running their green block will turn red; however, if your fan loses its PWM / speed control and stays at 100% that little block will still show as green. All in all, this is a very quick and easy way to get a good overview of how your BMC and CPUs are running.

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To customize and tweak the BMC’s performance and other attributes one simply selects menu and then "Edit Settings...". Here you have four tabs or pages to chose from (though if you are running a unit with more than one Chiller you may have more tabs). The first page deals with the “Chillers” or TECs performance; the default settings are for predictive cooling of the coolant to 25° Celsius. What this means is that the BMC will try its best to keep the coolant at a constant 25°C. If the coolant goes below this, the MTEC controller will slow the fans and reduce the power (all the way down to 40%) until the temp goes back to 25°, if the BMC is too powerful for your system expect it to hardly ever rise above 25 and expect some super chilly temps (and maybe even some condensation forming on the TECS and/or FHE blocks).

If your system is a lower end dual core, or high end quad for example you can override the predictive cooling setting and set it to anything you like as long as it is 0 or greater. We recommend that if you do change this setting to keep it above ambient to reduce the already slim possibility of condensation from forming, and thus killing your computer.

If this one temperature zone is not to your liking you can override it by choosing the Advanced Features. Here instead of trying to stay at a given temperature, you can set a high and low temperature range that you would like the Elite to stay within. This can drastically reduced the noise output of the system while still keeping your processor at an acceptable temperature. The default settings for this is 20ºC to 40° and as long as the unit's coolant is in this range the TECs and fans are more than likely just going to idle at 40%. However, as soon as the upper threshold is reached the unit springs into action and does all it can to get that temp down ASAP. This makes the BMC a fairly well mannered unit that can be quiet when you want it to be.

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The next tab deals with what information you would like included in the graph that the software can produce. Yes this unit not only cools your computer is can give you real time interactive graphs (2d or 3D!) that can show as little or as much information as you like. For example it can show you how the coolant temperature relates to your CPU temperature. This is a very handy tool that is both powerful yet easy to use. To get the MTEC software to start a graph you simply need to be at the opening page (so exit the Edit Settings section and get back to it if necessary) and then press "Show Graph Window". It will start graphing the data instantly and will not stop until to manually stop it, at any time you grab a screen shot that saves the graph into a jpeg format by simply pressing Menu then "Capture Screen Shot".

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The notification page (or if you like “3rd tab”) is probably one of the most powerful tools this software gives you. When set up and configured you can have the software email you when something goes wrong. If you are like most people you probably will play with the software for awhile, get it tweaked to your liking and then forget all about it. This is good as that is how it should be; but this bad boy is ever vigilant on your behalf, so even when you have forgotten all about it can email you a warning that something has gone wrong and remind you that it still there protecting your investment. This page really underscores how much CoolIT cares about their customers and want them as a long term clients. After all, nothing is more rabidly loyal than a person who saved their CPU from frying because of a just in time warning from said companies free software!

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The last tab is for how often the software will update its information. A setting that is too slow may cause your BMC to respond sluggishly, a setting to high may makes your system sluggish as too many cycles are being hogged by the software. 1FPS seems to be a good balance and in testing it did not noticeable effect performance on either the dual or quad system. While this is a very nice feature the best feature of them all is hidden in plain sight at the bottom. That check box for “shutdown system on pump failure” takes the early warning we were talking about in the previous tab and turns it from a passive system to an active defense system. Bloody brilliant.

 

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Testing Methodology

Testing Methodology

To ensure that the results from one review to another are not only reproducible but actually pertinent to this review, the Testing Methodology will be the same throughout all reviews used. If something does change we will be sure to make a special note of it and explain why this change was done and more importantly why it had to be changed or altered.

Except where noted all comparison testing was done on an open bench with an ambient temperature of 20c. Recorded temps were as reported via CoreTemp's "Temp Log". Average load temps were taken after 15 minutes of running Prime95 v25.4 “small fft” and are taken directly from CoreTemp’s temperature text file. Excel was used to average the results of all cores. Idle temps were taken 15 minutes after Load testing ceased. Motherboard temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan. For any and all water cooling units no fan speed control was used; rather, they ran at full speed for all testing stages. Since this hybrid cooler has built in fan speed control we let it decide the speed of the fan.

Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal paste was used for all coolers during these tests unless otherwise noted. Application of all thermal paste was according to the manufacturer’s instructions and while not necessary it was allowed to cure for 48 hours under moderate to high loads (with periods of low loads) prior to testing.

All tests were run a minimum of 4 times and only best results are represented.

Please note: Because the Asetek LCLC did not come with a fan, the fan which came with Swiftech H20-120 was used to obtain the results listed in this review.

Please note: Because the Swifteh H20-120 is not a sealed maintenance free unit, pure desalinized water with Swiftech Hydrx was used.

Notes about Overclocking:

For q6600’s I consider 1.45 volts to be the most that I would seriously consider for a moderate-to-long term overclock.


Yes you can go much higher but the longevity of the CPU is then called into question. Just as importantly the CPU should average out at LESS than 65c as this is also what I consider the safest, maximum long term overclocking temp. For the purposes of these tests I was willing to overlook temperatures as long as they averaged below 70c and did not peak over 75c. If 75c was displayed for more than 10seconds in CoreTemp all testing was stopped and that test run was considered a fail.

With these two general guidelines I overclocked both systems until either one (or both) of these "rules" was needed to be broken to continue.

Overclocking was accomplished by increasing FSB speed and then Vcore (only if necessary).

As they have no bearing on these tests the RAM’s voltage and timings are not recorded, the RAM was set to run at or as close to as possible PC-6400 speeds by running various cpu : memory dividers. Please do not consider this a full “how to” review on overclocking or “safe guidelines” for overclocking nor even an indicator on how well a given CPU will overclock. IF you are interested in OC’ing your system, and use these guidelines we at HWC take no responsibility for the results. Bad Things can happen if you are not careful.


Complete Test System:

Processor:
Intel:
Q6600
AMD:
Phenom 9750

Motherboard:
Intel:
Gigabyte p35 DS4
AMD:
DFI LANPARTY UT 790FX-M2R

Memory: 4GB G.Skill PC2-6400
Graphics card: ASUS 8800GT TOP
Hard Drive: 1x Western Digital Se16 500GB
Power Supply: Seasonic S12 600W

 

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Performance Results (Default Settings)

Performance Results (Default Settings)

To see how well mannered this unit can be, the first round of tests will have the Advanced features of the MTEC controller software enabled with the default range of 20 min and 40 max. With this range setting the coolant temperature will be allowed to rise to a maximum temperature of 40° Celsius before the software will take action and increase the TECs and Fan power. Conversely the software will also reduce levels (to a minimum of 40%) as needed to try and keep the coolant temperature above 20° Celsius. By doing this we will get a clear picture of what is the absolute minimum noise the BMC needs to use to give acceptable performance results. In other words, the first set of tests will show what this unit can do in low noise environments, where CPU temperatures are secondary to noise levels.

In the second set of tests we will max out the TECs and the Fans to see what this unit is really capable of (i.e. they will be running @ 100% even when idle). This will show exactly how much cooling potential this unit has; or to put it bluntly, this set of tests is all about raw performance with no worries about noise levels.


Q6600 Performance Results

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Any way you slice it, these idle temperatures are down right amazing! We had a hunch the only mass produced product which would put out beloved Elite to shame was the Boreas and these temperatures certainly are proof we were right. As we have said in the past, idle temperatures are all well and fine but it’s the load temperatures which really matter and the Boreas certainly does not disappoint. Heck, the only time we have seen temps this low at stock speed on out quad was when we were talking about Idle temps. Even a full bore overclock barely raises the temperatures enough for the MTEC software to really take note!.

For those interested, at stock speed the MTEC software “blipped” to about 49% (with a blip being defined as a short few second duration of increased power) before returning to its minimum 40% level. At a moderate overclock of 3.0GHz (enough to make some air coolers throw in the towel) the software shortly increased the power levels to the low 60s, but for the most part stayed at about 52%.

When the processor was turned all the way up to 1.45 volts and our maxium overclock of 3.4GHz was reached, the MTEC would blip the power levels to the mid 70s before returning to around 60% for the majority of the time. To us this is down right impressive and we wonder what thermal loads would be required to really make this thing sweat…..I don’t know about you but I’m itching to find out, but lets first look at the Phenom 9750 results which should prove equally interesting!


AMD Phenom 9750 results

As with the Q6600 this round of tests will have the Advanced features of the MTEC controller software enabled with the default range of 20 min and 40 max. With this range setting the coolant temperature will be allowed to be rise to a maximum temperature of 40° Celsius before the software will take action and increase the TECs and Fan power. Conversely the software will also reduce levels (to a minimum of 40%) as needed to try and keep the coolant temperature above 20° Celsius.

Please note: As the CPU sensor in our 9750 is less than accurate we are foregoing the overclocking of this chip as the results seem to get worse the higher the OC.

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As with the Intel Q6600, the Phenom’s test results in some very impressive results. Sub ambient temperatures at idle on one of the hottest main stream CPUs (next to the 140TDP versions that is) brings the Boreas’ performance to a whole new level. Even the load temperatures are great.

 

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Performance Results (100% On TECs and Fans)

Performance Results (100% On TECs and Fans)

To see exactly how well the Boreas can really do when we open the throttle up, we have purposely turned off the advanced features and set the Predictive cooling temperature to Below Ambient. For testing we stared at 8°C but this was not cold enough to ensure 100% load on the fan and the TECs. We had to further reduce the temperature another 2° Celsius before we could reliably count on the system staying at 100% for both the TECs and the fan (yes that is right we had to set the temperature to a mind blowing 6°C before it would stay at 100%!) .

This is not recommended as sustained below ambient temperatures can cause condensation which could damage your motherboard, and in fact this is the reason we have forgone the stock speed of the Q6600 as it created enough condensation to seriously worry us. If you chose to do this, we here at HWC take no responsibility for your actions. We are just showing you what this cooler can POTENTIALLY do, and it is up to you and ONLY YOU to choose which of the myriad of cooling combinations is right for you.


Q6600 Performance Results

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Oh…my…GOD, talk about "intelligent design"! Though, thank his Noodly Noodliness we started at the high end of the spectrum and worked our way back as this fricker sweats worse than a pig in a barbecue pit. Well we did say we wanted to know what it would take to make it sweat and boy did we get our wish.

With idle temperatures this low, all four TEC groups and the CPU block were creating copious amounts of condensation (and the humidity of the our testing room was kept LOW!). Once we got over the amount of sweat this thing can make we got out a bunch of towels to absorb the moisture and kept going. If you choose this extreme (and rather loud route) we highly, highly recommend you properly insulate your motherboard.

Honestly, the only thing more impressive than 6° or 7°C idle temperatures is sub 30°C load temperatures. If you need to go lower than this then your going to have to shell out the really big bucks and go full on phase change as I don’t think you can get much better than this from water.


Phenom 9750 Performance Results

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It seems I was wrong when I said you couldn’t get much more impressive that the Q6600 results. Lets face it the Phenom is a real hot rod of a CPU and for any cooler to be able to keep it to near 25°C at full load is astonishing. I really got to wonder if Mr. Olde was wrong about what they use for the coolant as I pretty darn sure there must be at least SOME unobtainium floating around in there..

 

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Value

Value

The term “Value” is such an amorphous term that it truly has different meanings for different people. For some a CPU cooler is only as good as it overclocking potential, for others it is how quiet it does its job; for others still it’s how effective it is for its cost. We here at HWC try to provide as many answers as possible for the term “Value”. Hopefully by this point in the review people looking at OC potential or loudness levels will have a fairly good idea of what its Value is. For the “best bang for the buck” crowd we have included a chart below showing how much each 1*c less costs when compared to Intel’s FREE stock cooler. No consideration has been made for noise levels, “looks” or any other extraneous factors; this is just raw performance vs. monetary cost. For any cooler which performs worse than the Intel stock cooler a rating of “FAIL” will be given.

All prices are based on either their MSRP (if no e-tailer prices were available at review time) or the online price they sold for at the time of their review. IF a CPU cooler does not include a fan the price of a Scythe F has been included ($12).

To make it as easy as possible for you to modify this ratio we have also included the various coolers temperature difference so if you do come across one of them on sale you can easily modify its “Value” rating. We here at HWC are in no way saying this is the definitive answer to “Value”, rather it should be considered another tool to help you make your final decision. After all something is only as “valuable” as what you consider it to be.

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Well it seems that no matter how low your temperatures are there really is a mathematical limit to how good a “value” you can be! Of course, and just like we said in the Elite review, if your looking for a good deal you may have to change your perspective just a wee bit to allow the BMC to qualify! Then again $17 isn’t all that bad for temps this low now is it? Hmmm, before you try that line out on your significant other / “She who must be obeyed” you may want to tweak it a little bit.

 

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Power Consumption

Power Consumption

To further help potential customers decide if this cooler is a good “value” for them we have also included the power usage of this device. For this range of tests the Advanced features of the MTEC controller software enabled with the default range of 20 min and 40 max as this is a more likely scenario than maxing out the TECs and fans. For anyone interested in maximum power consumption this unit is rated to use 154 watts of power (130 for the TECs, 8 watts each for the fans and another 8 for the pump).

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There is no getting around it, and just like a certain saying goes: "There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” for if there was, this kit would be able to keep our overclocked processor nice and cool AND be able to produce ice cubes…and run the rest of the computer of its excess power generation. Since this would break a whole bunch of “laws” and we still haven’t been able to create a perpetual motion machine, the Boreas sucks power like it going out of style. If you are planning on using this in a high end system don’t forget to budget in the necessary power requirements of the unit itself as nothing would hurt more than having your system go “POOF!” over lack of juice.

 

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Conclusion

Conclusion

When we reviewed the Elite I said not everything was completely perfect with it since its cooling performance wasn't without fault. However, when we look back at what the Boreas was able to achieve, it was almost beyond comprehension. Cooling performance was without a doubt the most impressive CPU cooling solution we have tested to date.

I have to admit that just like many people, I too had my reservations about the Boreas before I got it and wrongly dismissed it as nothing but an E-Penis enhancer at best or a “white elephant” at worst. I can now proudly say I was wrong and the Boreas MTEC Chassis isn’t just for people who want the biggest and / or the coolest (whether they need it or not). Most people don’t max out their quad cores, let alone overclock to excessive amounts and as we saw at standard speeds the fans & TECs cruise along at low power levels. At these power levels they are darn near silent, making this cooler a silent PC enthusiast's wet dream. Sure it eats juice but lets face it electricity is cheap, yet silence, real silence is golden.

Unfortunately, we do have some nits to pick with this unit. The first and foremost of these is the lack of standoff markings on the motherboard tray. Yes this is typical for the TJ07 but this is a custom rig which costs $800 and would a cardboard cut out showing the various ATX options have added much to its cost? At this price range there should be absolutely ZERO guess work involved when you are building your ultimate system. While this issue was a bit annoying, the other problem we discovered could be dangerous.

When you set the coolant temperature to sub ambient, the TEC housing units and the waterblock do have a nasty tendency to sweat bullets. It would be a shame for an inexperienced person to accidentally change this easily modifiable temperature to a level which leaves them with a fried motherboard. We really think CoolIT needs to add in a confirmation pop up when you set the coolant temp to anything below 20°C. Heck, the pop up should come warning you not to go below ambient every time you want to change it. This way at least you get a warning and if you ignore it you reduce temperatures further at your own peril.

In the end, and even when you include these small issues, you really do get your money's worth. Not inly do you get one of the best cases out there which has been customized for the Boreas but best of all, you get the Boreas unit itself which is truly an awe inspiring CPU cooling solution. What is the most interesting thing about the Boreas is that it can be completely customized to your needs if you order directly from CoolIT. Got an itch for QUAD-Fire or QUAD-SLI? CoolIT will gladly customize it for you, and we know the Boreas has the horsepower to handle it.

If you have the money, there truly is nothing better out there unless you are willing to go to phase change. Indeed, the Boreas truly oozes quality and the only thing better than its looks is its performance. In the Elite review I compared that CoolIT unit to a Royals Royce and that is still a fair comparison. However, if the Elite is a Royals Royce than the Boreas MTEC Chassis is a fine Bentley automobile with every option, $4000 chromed rims and a supercharger that would shame a Mack truck. Its just as nice and comfortable for cruising as a Royals but when you want, it can really lay down some rubber. More importantly, and just like the Elite, you have one of the best Canadian customer service orientated companies there to back you up if you run into problems. What more could you ask for from a company? Expensive or not this truly is a DAM GOOD piece of kit.


Pros:
- Amazing cooling performance
- Great Case
- Good custom job
- Low noise for most cooling situations
- Who needs Viagra?! THIS is the ultimate E-Penis enhancer!

Cons:
- Price
- Can be loud at full load speed
- Air exhausts from top, back and both sides of the case(space required all around the unit for optimal performance)
- Even at its lowest setting it may cause condensation if you have a cool running CPU
- May cause E-Penis envy in friends and relatives.

Boreas MTEC Review Comment Thread​