| Ultra ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler ULT33186 |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Cooling | |
| Written by Olin Coles | |
| Monday, 13 August 2007 | |
Introduction: Ultra ChillTecA TEC (thermo-electric cooler) also known as a "Peltier Cooler", is a solid-state active heat pump capable of transferring heat from one side of the device to the other. The Ultra ChillTec CPU cooler ULT33186 uses a TEC, sandwiched between two copper plates, each plate with four heat-pipes leading to a large fan cooled radiator. Because TEC's are capable of cooling below room temperature, often condensation is a concern. But not with the Ultra ChillTec.
The ChillTec's control unit does not apply power to the TEC unless the CPU reaches a certain temperature. Up to this point, the CPU is cooled by the heat-pipes on the "cold" side of the TEC. Once the CPU is hot, power is applied to the TEC and the CPU is chilled. The hot side of the TEC is cooled by the second set of heat-pipes. This perfect balance of thermo-electric cooling and heat-pipe cooling ensures the CPU is kept at the perfect operating temperature. Ideal for hardcore cooling, Benchmark Reviews will discover the potential advantages over standard air cooling solutions.
Ultra is a popular name amoung gamers and hardware enthusiasts. With a very wide array of products, it should be no surprise that they have opened their name to Peltier coolers as well. The Ultra ChillTec is just as colorful as other Ultra products, but even more so with the ULT33186 controller unit. 
The Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC controller unit features a four different color schemes on the LCD display, allowing you to install this device in any available 5.25" device bay and match the screen to the rest of your design. This control unit display also works very well in bright natural light environements, which allows you to disable the colored backlight to enable black-only LCD display. About the company: Ultra ProductsUltra Products is a global, technology-solutions provider with headquarters in Fletcher, Ohio. The company strives to offer a wide range of solutions, products and services all with a common thread: Innovation, value and quality. It is Ultra's mission to be the best provider of technology-solutions in the global market. By offering superior, innovative products and ensuring a high level of customer service, Ultra guarantees its customers receive an exceptional value in everything they do.
Innovative and Quality Products
Extensive Service Offerings
The Ultra Advantage!
Corporate Values Ultra Products will continue to design exclusive, breakthrough add-ons and components that make end users' computing experience more exciting and enjoyable! ULT33186 Features & SpecificationsPeltier Coolers have been around for quite some time now, based on the Peltier effect. The Peltier effect is the reverse of the Seebeck effect; a creation of a heat difference from an electric voltage. Using the Peltier effect, Ultra has created a cooling device which can force heat away from the CPU faster than it could travel by its own means. 
The Peltier effect occurs when a current is passed through two dissimilar metals or semiconductors (n-type and p-type) that are connected to each other at two junctions (Peltier junctions). The current drives a transfer of heat from one junction to the other: one junction cools off while the other heats up; as a result the effect is often used for thermoelectric cooling. This effect was observed in 1834 by Jean Peltier, 13 years after Seebeck's initial discovery. Peltier coolers are also called thermo-electric coolers (TEC). 
Ultra ULT33186 Specifications
Closer Look: ChillTec ExteriorNow that you have a better understanding of what the Peltier effect is, and how thermo-electric cooling works, you can now appreciate the fine details Ultra has introduced to improve upon the original design of the Peltier Cooler.
Ultra has fashioned a well-designed TEC kit with the ULT33186 ChillTec CPU Cooler. The CPU cooling unit is large, but no larger than other high-end coolers. In my testing, I found that the ChillTec cooling unit was still a safe margin off from reaching the absolute maximum headroom limits in most directions. Shallow cases will have no problem accommodating the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec, but I don't see it fitting into any HTPC enclosures with success.
At the intake side of the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler is a single variable speed (2000-2800 RPM) fan measuring 92 x 92 x 25 mm. There are blue LED's just behind the blades, which are bright enough to make the entire fan glow.
Ultra has dressed the ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler with some very nice anodized black aluminum billet panels with the edges polished to a fine reflective finish. These panels do a great job of deflecting impact damage from the numerous (and fragile) heatsink fins.
The three panels also allow the user to handle the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec with a little more authority. Since the cooling unit is rather heavy, weighing in at over two pounds, dropping the unit would result in major damage.
The heatsink unit on Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec is probably the largest I have seen in a very long time. Ever since manufacturer's began using heatpipes in their coolers, the heatsink has had less emphasis on size and more on the total number of pipes. Others have stuck to the old tried and true active cooling toolset: fans. ULT33186 Detailed Exterior FeaturesUltra has utilized every tool in the cooling arsenal in the ULT33186 ChillTec. It has an enormous heatsink full of aluminum fins, four heatpipes traveling each side, a large 92mm fan, and just for overkill there is the featured thermo electric cooling interface. But will it all be enough?
Mounting the ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler will require removing the motherboard to install the metal bolt frame. The ULT33186 is very heavy, and would cause damaging stress to the motherboard without the proper frame to support the weight hanging from the side.
The image above shows how much detail Ultra has incorporated into their ChillTec CPU Cooler: polished heatpipes, polished aluminum fins, polished TEC base. It's a wonder I was able to get a picture of this unit with all of the reflected light and sparkle. The good news is that it looks very nice once it's installed, and would not look overly functional even though it really is.
From the front intake view of the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec you can see begin to see the collective technologies overlap. Their are two heatpipes at the upper and lower portion of the Peltier base, and each set of of heatpipes span through the base and run up to the CPU cooler heatsink. From this point, heatpipe technology compliments thermo electric effects and rapidly cools the entire unit with assistance from the large array of aluminum fins.
The image above gives a close-up view of the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec base component. You can clearly see two heatpipes running from both sides of the thermo electric base, and the additional electronics stemming from the unit. All of this looks very impressive, and if looks were everything I would already be convinced. But it will take some testing before I am willing to recommend even the most stunning product. ChillTec Testing & ResultsCPU Cooler Testing MethodologyTesting was conducted at a series of temperature intervals, with the ambient room temperature measuring the same for each coolers reading. Lavalys EVEREST rounds up temperature readings to the nearest whole number, however all ambient temperatures were recorded and accurate to one-tenth of a degree Celsius. EVEREST Ultimate Engineer Version 4.00.976 was utilized to measure all CPU temperatures. It should be noted that temperatures obtained through software most always reflect the thermistor readings as recorded by the BIOS. All of the units compared in the results were tested on the same motherboard using the same BIOS. These readings are not absolute or correct, but they are relative since every BIOS is programmed differently. Test System
For each test, the computer system was powered on and left idle for ten minutes prior to recording the idle temperature with EVEREST. After idle temperatures have been recorded, two console versions of the Folding @ Home client were simultaneously run to create full load on both CPU cores. After ten minutes of full load, the temperature was again recorded. This process was identical for all cooling solutions used in this test, and was repeated for each ambient temperature interval. Ultra ULT33186 ResultsUp first is the results under heavy load. The first item you see in the chart colored light blue is the ambient room temperature, followed by each of the CPU cooler's tested after it. In this test battery, the OEM cooler provided by Intel with the Core 2 Duo E6600 was used as a reference, and ends the chart with the highest temperature readings. 
When I tested each cooler, I made certain to keep the hardware settings identical across the test platform. This would enable me to clearly compare the performance of each product under identical conditions. While the ambient room temperature increases, all of the coolers I tested would also record higher readings. However, in the case of the ChillTec the readings would remain very low; sometimes less than the ambient temperature. This was obviously a direct result of the thermo electric cooling effect. While it was interesting to record each result and watch for an increase, there wasn't much activity. This very nearly convinced me that I had the equivalent of dry ice sitting atop the CPU, but I wasn't ready to sell my testing process short. The heat had just started to be applied, and now it was time for real cooling under serious load.
Based on the results under full load, the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler performed very well. However, with the consideration of performance comes the consideration of price, and the ChillTec is a very expensive product to have only done "very well". As indicated in the chart above, the Ultra ULT33186 did better than others under load, but not better than all of the others. This is where I believed a product like the ChillTec should have really shined; but the best I got was a lot of sparkle.
There are some mixed results to be interpreted here. On the one hand you have extremely low idle readings, lower than every other unit tested. On the other hand you have good results under full load, but not the best out of the field. When it comes down to my final decision to rate the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler, I place a lot more weight behind results under load than those recorded without it. Additionally, For a product this large and expensive, the recorded temperatures under full load should be directly proportionate to the size and price of the product. They are not. Final Thoughts: Ultra ULT33186 ChillTecWhen I first received the package containing the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler, I thought to myself "this sure seems very heavy for a CPU cooler". Then when I opened the package, my second impression was how nice the system was. As I researched the product, I began to daydream of the ultimate CPU cooler, nay CPU chiller. As I installed the Ultra ChillTec, which seemed like a lot of effort for a cooler, I felt very confident in the results it would yield based on appearance of cooling technology alone. But the final result erased all of this in a short amount of time.
When you spend $140 for the highest-end CPU cooler available, you tend to expect some very high-end results. Based on my controlled environment results, it has been concluded that a handful of smaller, lighter, and far less expensive coolers would perform the same when it counts: under load. Additionally, the fan on the Ultra ULT33186 seemed to shift from low to high every other minute; and since the fan could become very noisy under full speed the constant cycle became very annoying. ConclusionUltra has always offered very nice and extremely informative product packaging. The ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler offers the consumer a very attractive presentation; at least until they reach the price tag. The ChillTec almost qualifies as art! Ultra has certainly made the ULT33186 into one of the more flashy products in their lineup. Every angle resulted in a sparkle and shine, making my photo session a lot tougher. Construction was absolutely solid, as you would expect from such a fine product. Ultra understands that nothing is worse than a broken product, which is why the ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler has so many protective panels and solid reinforcing joints. Functionality was a bit disappointing after all of the work to get the ChillTec installed. With so many technologies involved, I expected a whole lot more than what it delivered. Ultimately it was in-line with other high-end coolers, but it should be way ahead of them. Presently the Ultra ChillTec is available from Xoxide for $139.99, while Ultra sells it direct for $149.99. Although retailers are offering this product at a steep price point, they are only reflecting the price at which Ultra sells to them. It seems apparent that the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec TEC CPU Cooler is not for the buyer on a budget. The ChillTec prooved that thermo-electric cooling works; if for only low level temperatures. The loaded results were not disappointing, but they were very far from being impressive, and even farther from being acceptable from a product like this. If Chevy built a Corvette that couldn't beat a Toyota Camry off the line, you can bet that the experts would bury it. To that same extent, there's no chance of me recommending the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec to anyone except the most free-spending hardware enthusiast and overclocker. Ultra makes great products, and the ChillTec isn't bad, but the price is nowhere near matching the performance. ADDENDUM 11/01/2007: Just recently I utilized the Ultra ULT33186 ChillTec CPU Cooler in a customers high-end system. The hardware utilized for this system was based on the Cooler Master Cosmos RC-1000 Mid-Tower ATX Case and the OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-9200 DDR2 1150MHz RAM Kit. Instead of the usual fan orientation which places the fan at the right-hand side facing towards the front of the case and exhausting towards the rear, the extra-tall RAM modules forced me to reposition the ChillTec so that the fan was facing the bottom of the case and heated air was forced directly towards the top of the case. Since heated air naturally rises, the two 120mm cooling fans at the top of the Cosmos are perfectly placed to immediatly exhaust the heated air. This configuration dramatically improved the cooling performance, and is well worth the extra effort. Not every case can offer this setup, but in this particular configuration it proved successful. Pros:
+ Extremely attractive design Cons:
- Must remove motherboard for installation Ratings:
Final Score: 8.3 out of 10.Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.
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Comments
Your ability to read frightens me. Not only was this article written five years ago, long before the LGA1366 Core-i7 series existed, it was written using methods you clearly have no concept of. Measuring CPU cooling performance with a video game? Why don't you start predicting the weather with silverware? I would be offended by your trollish remarks, except for you sound too stupid for me to bother with.
thnks