Coolit Products - Can anyone refute/support this info?

[Skyguy]

OK, I've done alot of reading about the Coolit Freezone and Eliminator. And have seen alot of TEC vs H2O posts here. I have no such bias, so I've come here for some factual info and feeback. No flaming or fanboys please, I'm trying to be serious and objective.

I sent an email to Coolit asking some questions about their products. And I like some experts here to comment on the response I got.....I'd prefer some 3rd party, unbiased input here.

My message to Coolit:
I'm very interested in your CPU cooling products. It seems the
Freezone is out of my budget though. So I'm seriously considering purchasing
the Eliminator.

But I'm wondering if it will handle my C2D 6300 which is OC'd to 3.2ghz
now, vCore 1.35. I have good case airflow, and a Seasonic Energy +
650w PSU. Your product specs say it is designed to handle CPUs with a
heat output of 125w, but I'm not sure how to know what that represents on
a system?!?! How much is 125w of heat? What would output more than
that? Would the Eliminator be sufficient to keep my OC'd 6300 cool? I'm
currently using a high-end air heatsink, but my temps are not the
greatest. I'm looking at the Eliminator to possibly fix that.

I'd appreciate any info/feedback you could provide.


Coolit's response:
For your machine, I would expect that the Eliminator will be able to
maintain temps in the 38 - 44 C range depending on air flow and ambient
temperature.

The thermal design power (TDP) noted in our documentation is defined
for each processor by the manufacturer. In the case of an E6300, Intel
has spec'd the cpu for a TDP of 65 Watts. Intel states: "Thermal Design
Power (TDP) should be used for processor thermal design targets. TDP is
not the maximum power that the processor can dissipate."

So although the base target for a 6300 would be 65 W of heat
dissipation, we obviously have to leave a large amount of head room for times
when the processor using more power than the basic specification.

Any overclock, or voltage increase will of course raise this thermal
requirement above the original spec. It is very difficult to determine
the exact heat output of a specific processor, as each one is slightly
different, but with an overclock such as yours I would expect the heat
output to be around 75 to 80 Watts.

The Eliminator will be capable of running your machine at a medium or
high speed setting (I wouldn't recommend low).

As for higher TDP processors, some of the old Pentium 4 cores ran very
hot and had TDP's of well over 100W. Another example would be the
QX6700 quad core, which is basically a pair of Core2's, and thus it has a
TDP of 130W.

Processors such as these stress the Eliminator to its maximum, and
leave no room for expansion, so we do not recommend the Eliminator for any
Quad Core processor. At present the Freezone is much better suited to
cooling a Quad.

Now, I have a friend that swears by the Freezone on his OC'd X6800. I hear H2O fanboys around here say TEC and Coolit is crap and H2O pwns TEC garbage. And I have other people saying the Coolit does fine and don't have any issues whatsoever. And even Biohazard is using Coolit in their new rigs.

So my simple question is: Will the Eliminator work as Coolit (and my buddy) implies, or won't it?

Facts and hardcore experience only please. I'm not looking for extreme solutions, I'm looking for something reasonable at a decent price.

Much thanks!

[serialk11r]

Do not call me a fanboy, my interests are in the best of society, and I try to figure out the truth because it is for the common good. You might be disappointed by what people will tell you, but keep your ears open, and you will understand.
Good temps does not necessarily mean good performance. A TEC will not pump more heat than its Qmax rating (maximum heat moved). Your friend may be getting good temps, but were you aware that TECs get 5-10% efficiency? Your friend's coolit is using a lot of electricity to achieve what it is achieving right now. Chances are, his water temperature is not very low. Why? The TEC cools the water, which cools the CPU. Obviously, water has an extremely high specific heat capacity, so the TECs will only be able to pull water temperatures so low, most likely no lower than an normal water setup can. Remember that with load, your temps will not be going below ambient on this kind of system (it uses very weak TECs). To acheive good temps with TECs chilling water, you must use very high wattage TECs, which use a LOT of electricity, and put out monstrous amounts of heat.
There is a very good reason why people do not use this. There ARE people who use TECs here, littleowl for one, and Philly Boy is using them as well (I believe). They are not getting bashed for using TECs. Why? they are doing it a smarter way, which happens to be the more common method; use a waterblock and coldplate, waterblock cools TEC, TEC directly cools CPU.

The coolit products will NOT be worthwhile, because they use a LOT of electricity if you did not know, and will not achieve very good temps. A normal water setup WILL be better, because the TECs (which are very low wattage) in the coolit will not be as effective as a good radiator.

So, its your choice. Get the same performance with a normal radiator, and a few fans, or use a lot of electricity and possibly SACRIFICE performance, at a higher cost.
Now I do not have experience with TECs, but facts are facts, and TECs are FAR from being the "magic bullet" to anything.

[Skyguy]

Thank you for the info so far. I'm not set on any solution at this point, I'm just trying to understand the FACTS so I can make an informed decision. And thank you for giving some facts!!

I'm not knowlegable enough to mod/make/improve a TEC unit of any type.....Monsoon, Amanda, or Freezone/Eliminator. So I'm looking for a straightforward solution that won't break the bank, won't suck up tons of power, and won't cause alot of disappointment.

As an alternate solution, I've investigated H2O setups as well. I've scoured these forums, checked out Petra's, etc, etc. Best H2O setup I can see that might work for me is a Swiftech Ultra 220 (maybe the Ultra Plus). Everyone seems to think it's a respectable kit for someone like me that can't afford/build anything hardcore. My only problem is that my ambient temps are kinda high-ish and the rad won't get the BEST cooling. Can't afford the Thermochill 120.2 :(

So, would a Swiftech Ultra be a better option than TEC? Will it perform significantly better, less power, less noise, etc.....???


Thanks again.

[Gunslinger]

I have the Coolit freezone, it does fine for stock speeds, but could not handle my CPU when overclocked past say 3.3. Went with custom water setup and is MUCH better.

[serialk11r]

I have the Coolit freezone, it does fine for stock speeds, but could not handle my CPU when overclocked past say 3.3. Went with custom water setup and is MUCH better.

There you go ;)
So, if you want to go cheap on normal water, you'll need a little resourcefulness. A swiftech or coolingworks 120.2 rad will probably have pretty good results on that e6300. The problem is, buying this stuff new is expensive. The way to go cheap is to look on ebay, on the for sale section of various forums, etc. I believe lowfat spent just 100 something and got a pretty good improvement over air cooling. So if you're not comfortable with spending a lot of money, then that's the way to go. If all this is within your budget (as in like 250+ of watercooling parts), then sure, the swiftech kit is great. In fact, Petra has his own kits which are pretty awesome too. Good luck!

[Skyguy]

OK, gotcha. Thanks for the help. I'll take a look on Ebay, etc....might be a good way to go about it.

While I have you guys here....as far as kits go, what about the Koolance Exos-2?? I know some diehards here might scoff at such suggestions, but I need something sleek and "contained". Sorry, but I'm not into ghetto-rigged for maximum performance. I would like kinda headache-free and straightforward.

How does the Koolance perform? Is it reasonably good or pales compared to the Swiftech Apex kit?

[theelectic]

I tried the Freezone. It was no better (actually, worse) than an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro when used with an AM2 X2 3800+ overclocked to 2.7GHz. Not only were temps higher, it was way louder to boot.

If you really need something that's plug and play external with minimal hassle, you could do worse than the Exos-2. In terms of temps, it's not a horrible performer, it just doesn't have a good price/performance ratio. The price premium you pay is for the convenience factor. The Asetek Waterchill line is similar. At a minimum though, I would swap out the CPU block for something different.

[serialk11r]

OK, gotcha. Thanks for the help. I'll take a look on Ebay, etc....might be a good way to go about it.

While I have you guys here....as far as kits go, what about the Koolance Exos-2?? I know some diehards here might scoff at such suggestions, but I need something sleek and "contained". Sorry, but I'm not into ghetto-rigged for maximum performance. I would like kinda headache-free and straightforward.

How does the Koolance perform? Is it reasonably good or pales compared to the Swiftech Apex kit?

Koolance is pure crap, so is Corsair...
If you want an external plug and play kit that is actually good, newls1 makes his "waterkeg" boxes, but they're pricey...
If you ever have questions about watercooling, just come to the watercooling section ;) Search around and you'll find lots of useful things.

[Skyguy]

Ya, looks like I got the TEC thing sorted out so I guess I should mosey on over to the H2O section........;)

Thanks :)

[serialk11r]

Ya, looks like I got the TEC thing sorted out so I guess I should mosey on over to the H2O section........;)

Thanks :)

No problem, its my pleasure (really :();)

[Skyguy]

As a follow-up to what's been stated above, and to anyone wondering, here are some results of the Coolit Eliminator on a C2Ds system, at stock, moderate overclock, and hardcore overclock:

Stock, does great:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/473/4/

Hardcore OC, doesn't cut it, can't even beat a Big Typhoon air heatsink:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/473/6/

So, as Serial and theelectic stated, the higher you OC the worse the Freezone/Eliminator is....which seems to completely defeat the purpose of the cooler. You don't need amazing cooling at stock speeds, you need amazing cooling at higher OC speeds.


Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated!!

[bldegle2]

i have the coolit Freezer (the more powerful model) running in my rig, has been for several months. Opty 165 running 3gig (3.2 max), load temps usually mid 30*c, prolly gonna get higher with summer.

idles @17*c or lower depending on ambient. seen it as low as 9*c on a cold winter day, house with heater on low....

it works rather well for me, the mounting is a huge hassle with the spring steel brackets, and i can see were problems can arise if the block is not tightened down equally on both ends....potentially causing cooling problems

i have regular water on another rig, no way does it come close to the low temps this unit can produce.

no, it is not the BEST, but for an over the counter, bolt it in, fire it up unit, one can't go wrong......

laterz,

baldy

updateness: RE: with AMD slugs, the Coolit works great, with the high watt heat beasts from Intel, no it doesn't work as well, simple matter of physics.........i am running with a Opty 165 clocked to 3.0 gig (3.2max), and at full load, 38*c. of course that will change with the higher ambients summer brings.....

[Anemone]

Well I'll offer another opinion as an owner:

X6800 @ 1603 (speedstep kicks in during surfing) and 3740 on load, 1.45v avg

(Everest for all these readings, case side off at the moment which drops temps, case is a TJ07 with SFlexx 1600's, Panaflo mediums in all locations, save the Coolit freezone which I modified with a Panaflo 120x38mm 30db medium)

Idle/surfing (20c ambient) 29-35c
Hard gaming climbs to the low and occasionally mid 50's

System is quite stable, probably could push 4ghz, but the temps then would go where I'd prefer them not to go.

Notes: the system is good when lower around 3.4-3.6ghz, which shows that when the heat is lower, the system works well. I am not overly concerned with an extra 50w of power (Coolit is set permanently to max), but when the heat increases the coolit shows it's limits. And that is the part you have to read into people's results with it. If they don't have a super high heat load it "appears" to work just fine and people love any system that can bring temps close to ambient. Don't dare use this thing on a quad core. And frankly even a x6800 shouldn't be putting out super high watts.

I'm changing over to water. And while I'd sell you this thing for a song in a month or two (sorry but work keeps me busy enough that making changes is slow right now), I honestly would tell you that money would be better spent on water, unless you need things that this system can do.

What can it do? It keeps a very small footprint. It is plug and play, unless you modify it as I did (it goes back to unmodded very easily if you keep the mod simple like a fan). It doesn't take up the same case space as a water system does. BUT, you'll get more long term satisfaction from water, imho.

If done over again, or if I sold this thing I will go with a Ultra 120+ or IFX as backup, heavy duty air heatsink and 360 water for the main system. This thing is sort of in between and if you are pushing your volts and clocks on even a dual core, you can exceed it's capacity.

It's quiet with the bigger fan. But to get the most out of it I'm blowing the hot air into the case (it really loves cold outside air), and that I also don't really want since that's a constant heat dump into the case that I have to get rid of.

Go very good air, or a decent kit from Petra's and be happy. And if you are still dying to have a cheap Freezone, and want to wait a month or two, I'll hook you up. Dunno what I'm thinking price wise but we could talk. A couple months is a ways away.

So any temps you hear, check what CPU and case and cooling are in place. Open air gets best temps of course. And low heat cpu's perform well. Put this thing on a quad core (even Penryn) and crank that cpu up in speed and you'll watch the poor Freezone suffer.

$.02

[Anemone]

Thing is you prolly coulda done that with water alone. I understand the wish to "give it a try", just commenting what you probably already knew.

[MsB]

I have 2 freezones in cpu loop, all tubing and block(DD TDK) is insulated, running on a danger den water pump , Tecs are hooked directly to power supply and speed fan(Ite wont work in vista 64 for me) shows that my Q6600 @ 3150mghz is running core 0 5c, core1 5c, core2 -1c, core3 -1c I love these things. I buy them off forums whenever I can find them used around $200 bucks. I plan to get 2 more. :up:

[Holst]

I have 2 freezones in cpu loop, all tubing and block(DD TDK) is insulated, running on a danger den water pump , Tecs are hooked directly to power supply and speed fan(Ite wont work in vista 64 for me) shows that my Q6600 @ 3150mghz is running core 0 5c, core1 5c, core2 -1c, core3 -1c I love these things. I buy them off forums whenever I can find them used around $200 bucks. I plan to get 2 more. :up:

This is very interesting.

Can you post some pics of your system please.

So what about load temps?
I would expect them to be very high running 4 cores at load.

[MsB]

This is very interesting.

Can you post some pics of your system please.

So what about load temps?
I would expect them to be very high running 4 cores at load.

No time now, but, I will test loads tonight. I tested it alittle bit with sysoft burnin and dvd decrptor running and after a 10 minutes it was 15c, however that was right after installing Vista and I dont trust that. I will send a pic of the rig too. Got to get to work, bah!

[MsB]

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a373/MsBMeaner/DSCF0365.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a373/MsBMeaner/DSCF0363.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a373/MsBMeaner/DSCF0362.jpg
tested . ran super pi 32m and 2 instances of FOH and the highest it got was 22c :( I need another one :)

[Fr3ak]

Do you have any possibility to measure the power consumpton of the 2 Freezones? Both idle and load would be perfect. I know what the CoolIT website and their empoyees say, but I would love to see some numbers of unbiased people.
Thank you.

[MsB]

I have no way to say what its pulling. I have them on an old 500 watt antec PSU. I've been meaning to get back here and repost. My post that it was running @ 0c and up to 2-3c @ idle is erronious. I switched to pn-e sli board and it reads 18-20c idle and around 44c @ load which seems a lot more like it. Still good though considering its a quad. I will be getting 2 more and installing them with a new ga p35 dq in a new torture case Im building right now. That should get the temps down. I do plan on messing around with one of them and putting 3x 80 watt teks on one, wired in series so as to be running each at about 1/4 of its potential for about 60 watts of cooling on one block to see how it effects the cooling and to see if the sink can handle the heat disipation.l