CoolIT Boreas MTEC Chassis Review

Packaging & Accessories

As with all our reviews we like to start off with the packaging as this is the first impression any customer is going to get from a given product; more over it can give you a lot of insight into where a given product “fits” into a manufacturer's lineup. The more important a product, usually the better quality and care is taken with the packaging, while this is an over simplification and there are numerous exceptions to this observation (thus we can’t really call it a “rule” per say) its still a good place to start. Exceptions or no, the Boreas MTEC Chassis is a perfect example of this observation as it comes in a down right amazing package.


Its funny but when the courier showed up to deliver it our first impression was one of absolute shock. You see, we were originally expecting a Boreas unit, and not the Boreas MTEC chassis! So while we were expecting the box to be bigger than the Elite’s….we were not expecting it to be big enough for two kids to make a fort out of.

The next shock came when the driver got down out of the truck and then very carefully lifted it out and place it on the ground. He was doing it this way as it comes with a “heavy weight” warning label and I'm guessing he didn’t want to throw out his back. Yes, this thing really IS heavy.


It is unfortunate that photos don’t give you a great sense of size or weight as this is not only a heavy case; it’s a frickin’ monster. The amount of protection is quite amazing and it offers the BMC more padding than a room in a mental institution. Since there is a LOT of mass to protect the box is not made from cardboard; rather, it is made from corrugated plastic and is made by Benson Box.


CoolIT really went all out when they spec’ed out this box as it not only a monster protector it is also extremely easy get access to. In our experience, the more protection afforded a product, the harder it usually is to open. In all reality, all you really have to do is undo to long and large Velcro strip located on each side of the box and then slide the top off.


When you do slide the top part off you are afforded your first awe inspiring look at the internal packaging. We say awe inspiring as all four sides and the bottom are covered in extra thick (approximately 2 inches) low density foam. To keep the chassis from sloshing around in side the box a divider is also placed on one side to immobilize it and to offer even more protection.


As this product is really two units in one we will be taking a closer look at both the TJ07 custom chassis and then the Boreas. However, before we get to the chasis lets first go over the list of accessories which accompanies this unit; or to put it bluntly : what kind of swag does $800 get you? The short answer is more than enough with a even a few surprises thrown in. You get the MTEC controller, mounting brackets for both AMD and Intel 775 systems, Nvidia and ATI GPU mounting brackets, an MTEC manual, quick start manual or basically everything which comes with the Elite model plus brackets for your GPU. Most Boreas units are set up to cool the GPU as well as the CPU, but as we were interested in seeing just how powerful the Boreas was without complicating the results our test unit was set up to cool the CPU only.


This was a very well-rounded accessories list and we would have been more than impressed if they had just thrown in a bag of screws (and standoffs) for the case and a the manual for the TJ07 and called it a day. However, this is a Canadian company which prides themselves on customer service and satisfaction, so the accessory list also includes an additional PSU bracket (for mounting a larger PSU horizontally instead of vertically) and a 24-pin extension cable for your PSU’s 24 pin motherboard cable. As befitting a serious piece of kit CoolIT did not include any case badges or other goo-gaws which seem to be so prevalent these days. Don’t get me wrong I like seeing nick-knacks in the accessory list but putting case badges or “Evil inside” style stickers would sully the good looks and somehow denigrate this marvel of engineering. On behalf of HWC we would like to thank CoolIT for not succumbing to peer pressure and keeping the accessories elegant, and simple.