The ChillTec Thermoelectric CPU Cooler Review

Installing the ChillTec

Installing the ChillTec can be a little complicated. Its not your normal push your pins into the motherboard and go. The ChillTec ships with custom CPU brackets for the AM2, K8 and Intell 775 Platforms. This metal plate consists of a plate to which is attached a number of thread rods. Ultra includes a plastic piece and a foam piece in order to protect the underside of the motherboard. This plate is then fitted onto the motherboard by pushing the thread rods through the stock mounting holes for the Intel Cooler.

Then you attach spacers to the cooler itself, and then slide the cooler onto the threaded rods. From there you secure the cooler via the threaded rods with the supplied thumbscrews.

Ultra has clearly thought out the mounting process for this cooler. Due to its size and weight, it must have been clear to the Ultra Engineers that a sturdy and strong mounting system needed to be used. On some large and heavy coolers, the motherboard can be seen bowing. I encountered none of this, even though I was a little leery as I tipped the motherboard vertical.

Below you can see the cooler installed.

Its important to note that the optimal installation for this cooler is to have the 90mm fan blowing through the cooler towards an exhaust in order to expel the heated air.

After you have the cooler installed, you have just a few more connections to make. Connected to the cooler are two cables. One is the power cable for the TEC and the other is the fan speed control cable. They both connect to the LCD Display Unit as seen below. From left to right the connections are fan power, TEC Power and power to the entire unit.

On the front of the cooler is a LCD panel that displays CPU Temp, Fan Speed, Total Up Time, and Session Up Time. The LCD Panel can be displayed in Blue, White, Green, Turquoise, Purple, and Yellow. The screen will go Red and sound an alarm if the temperature climbs too high. The temperature can be displayed in either Celsius or Fahrenheit. Three instances of the word ULTRA flash in sequence across the top of the LCD, as well as a little Stick Guy digs a hole to indicate the TEC Load.

So what’s inside the LCD Display Unit, well read on to find out!