I know some peeps are interested in a user perspective of the prometeia cooler…
So, here goes…
Arrival
Mine arrived a little over a week ago, it came in a V large white box with paper instructions on how to remove it from the box. It is very heavy. Not for the faint hearted to carry upstairs ie, don’t tell the g/friend or wife to do it.
On unpacking there is a green retaining metal bar bolted to the case of the case, which once removed allows the case to stand up properly. First impression of the case is - it’s a case. No surprises, 4 x 5.25 bays and 3 x 3.5 inch bays. To take it apart you first pull the coolers front cover off, then the pc’s front cover then the side panel screws are accessible. The side panels come off easy enough to reveal the business end of a rich mans cooling device. Not that I am rich more that it is an expensive case.
The cooling head is fitted to the mobo tray via a transport screw which once removed allows the mobo tray to be removed from the case.
Fitting
The instructions whilst clear are easily forgotten about in the excitement to get chilled. For reference seal string is a bit like plasticine but a bit more stretch armstrong - oh and it’s black.
In concise form, first off fit the black plastic thingy with sponge in it with seal string. Attach this to the rear of the mobo firmly and exactly inline with the coolers head (2 mins). Attach the mobo to the mobo tray and screw inplace. Place the shim on the cpu (two supplied in the AMD kit - none in the P4). Install the cpu. Place the metal bracket over the cpu socket and clip to the 3 lugs. Place two runs of seal string arround the cpu bottom bracket clip. Push into place. Put two more runs of seal string ontop of the cpu bracket. Put Arctic Alumina or AS3 etc on the cpu/cooler. Attach the coolers head. Screw into place using the super long allen key provided.
Now the instructions say remove the head and check there is contact between the head and cpu. Doing this means you will probably have to redo some of the seal string. But it’s wise to check there is full contact.
For P4 fitting there is the same metal clip, this time mounted in a black plastic tray. This is screwed from the base through the rear seal tray. I’ve not used the P4 kit yet so cant comment on ease of use, but if it’s anything like the AMD kit it’s a piece of cake.
The head is now fitted, you now need to connect the electrical connector side of the cooler. This is done via what can only be described as pass through connectors. These attach to the mobo’s power and reset switch. This is so the cooler can start to work whilst the mobo is held in a reset position, giving the cooler time to work.
Power On
Fit the rest of your devices, and power up.
Wait.
Wait some more.
Wait and have a look at the nice digital display.
Wait a bit more.
Start getting nervous as the temp rises.
23.2 24.1 25.2 26.0
At first it seems to take an age, but I am now used to the process and can honestly say I leave my pc on 24/7 ! Once the cooler kicks in it is very impressive to watch the temperature dive.
The cooler is preset to turn on the PC once the chiller head reaches -33c. Also at this point the 2x120mm fans kick into slow mode. And the level of noise is reduced. The -33 figure can be adjusted via the controllers panel if your braver than me.
Results
Whilst it is easy to say it adds something I can’t easily quantify it, as I changed cpu at the same time as cooler. So knowing what extra it gives is difficult to say. The xp2200 I have runs rock stable at 12x175 = 2.1ghz and ran a seti bench at 2133mhz no problem. Have a looksey here
Here’s a piccy…
Conclusion
I am pleased overall, but dissapointed at some aspects of the cooler. The case appears cheap, I cut myself several times and didn’t know until I spotted drops of blood/blood smears. Saying that I have also cut myself on £25k servers so it’s probably just my big fat hands!. The next item I dislike would be the size of the case, I have 4 HDD’s which is a no go. I had to buy coolers to mount the 2 additional drives in the 5.25 bays as the bays use clips to mount drives. I suppose I could of drilled holes and mounted the drives manually but it would of been better to have standard fittings.
Apart from those two, I think the thing is brilliant at what it does. I’m typing this and the display reads -34c, Asus probe reads 9c from the internal diode of the cpu. The bios reads -14c when you go into hardware monitor. All at 2.1Ghz.
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