|
 |
|
Setup of the Vapochill XE |
|
Anybody up for a cold one? |
|
We knew it
was going to be anything but a normal day in the
HotHardware labs when the large cardboard box came in
from Denmark. A two-person team of the BigWop
and myself carried it out to my car, where I promptly
drove it home and placed it in a corner of my lab.
Intrigue set in - being my first time with a Vapochill
CPU Cooling Kit, I was eager to find out what was in
the box. We hastily pulled out two baggies that
were packed with all sorts of cables and manuals and
placed these aside. It was the big, black case
we were after, and we removed it from the box and took
a long gander. Huge is one adjective we could
use, but it doesn't convey enough of the actual
feeling when faced with the Vapochill for the first
time. Awe seems to fit the bill much better.
The other cases in the room seemingly shrunk away from
the Vapochill in fear, like Imperial Stormtroopers
trying to avoid Darth Vader's gaze. Indeed, even we succumbed to
the Vapochill's power, and faced with the daunting
task of putting everything together, we paused for a
moment and placed the Vapochill unit back into the
box for the time being.
Peeking
back into the box sometime later, we figured I would
try and get a handle on what this was all about.
"RTFM" is a common acronym used in the technology
fields, so it was the manual that we plucked from the
bundle and sat down for some heady reading.
After a brief introduction to vapor phase cooling, we
hit upon the system checklist and matched it with what
we found in the ziploc bags. In the bag that the
manual was taken from, there was a an all-important
power cable connector, ChillControl software on a 3.5"
floppy used with the supplied serial/RJ-45 cable, an
I/O shield as well as various clips and screws for
mounting the motherboard and drives. The other
bag contained the assorted pieces used for the CPU-kit
assembly. Paralleling the section found in the
manual was another guide on how to install the CPU-Kit
for Socket 478 Pentium 4 motherboards. The large
foam pieces are used in, around, and under the CPU
socket, and with the tube of Heat Conduction Compound
(HCC) are used to prevent condensation. Two
self-adhesive pin heaters, one for each side of the
board, are also included as well as two steel bars
with locking rings to modify the socket for assembly.
After
getting to the back cover of the manual, we figured
that we had a fair idea of what I needed to do to get
started, but being the curious sort we disassembled
the case to get a better view of the refrigeration
unit. The main panels are attached using
thumbscrews, making removal a quick and easy process.
There is ample room in the lower section of the case
for any assortment of drives and other hardware, and
plenty of spots for mounting additional case fans for
cooling other components. While the CPU will be
handled by the CPU kit, heat is still being generated
by the hard drive, video card, etc. and it couldn't
hurt to add a large case fan or two. The
motherboard tray can be removed for mounting the board
using the supplied plastic attachment clips. The
upper section of the case is kept separate from the
main assembly, and it was here that the Cooling Kit is
found. It looks like a bunch of coils and hoses
at first, but one can quickly pick out the major
pieces: the compressor, condenser, and evaporator
hose. This hose snakes down through an opening
into the lower section becoming the actual
preassembled CPU-kit, with the foam-encased copper end
which will be placed over the CPU.
We started
to put the outer shell back on to get ready to
assemble the Vapochill using the
Epox 4PDA2+ v2 board that we reviewed a couple
weeks back. While the front panel fit perfectly,
the back panel was more of a chore. One of the
clips didn't seem to fit well, and it took some
sliding back and forth to get the panel to fit,
although it continued to bow out slightly towards the
middle. Since these units are manufactured and
shipped from Denmark, it's quite possible for things
to get banged around a bit, so it's hard to really
fault asetek here. What we did find lacking,
however, was the overall "feel" of the front bezel.
The plastic felt thin and easily breakable, and more
than once did we fret when a corner got stuck while
manipulating the case during assembly.
Considering the price that a Vapochill demands, the
case should be constructed from better materials.
In comparison, we have a $100 Chieftec Dragon here in
the labs that not only feels like its constructed
better, but the side panels have cleaner edges and fit
easier together. In its defense, however, the
Vapochill's primary selling point is its cooling
mechanism, and not its looks, so we won't make too
much of a fuss here.
When it
came to the actual assembly, we followed the manual
step by step. Although we are quite familiar
with setting up a normal system, we had to take double
looks in the manual to see how the CPU-kit assembly
varies from installing a standard air-cooled
heatsink/fan. While the manual does cover all of
the necessary procedures, there were a few steps that
we felt could have been expanded on or explained
better. Eventually, we would follow the same steps
that Dave outlined in his Vapochill PE review, and you
can
click here to see his thorough discussion on the
topic. Originally, this system was setup without
the copious amounts of Heat Conduction Compound, as
asetek recommends assuring compatibility between the
board and the Vapochill unit before finalizing the
system. With everything set up correctly, we
crossed our fingers and hit the Power button. A
few dashes flashed on the LED Display, and then the
temperature began to count down from 10 degrees, then
5, and down below zero. Apparent success, until
the motherboard began to boot. If you recall,
the Epox 4PDA2+ v2 motherboard has its own diagnostics
routine, which caused the board to power up, run a
system check, then power down and restart again.
This extra step caused the ChillControl unit to blurt
out an error code that, when decoded,
informed us that too much pressure had begun to build up in the
compressor. We waited a few minutes for the
pressure to abide, and then were able to boot
successfully. While rare, this is one issue to
watch out for and asetek keeps an updated motherboard
compatibility list on their website that aspiring
builders should pay mention to.
After we
had booted and were convinced that the system was
stable and that the Vapochill unit was keeping our CPU
sufficiently cool, we quickly disassembled the CPU-kit
by unscrewing the two long screws around the socket.
We used most of the HCC now, by squeezing out the
compound all over the CPU pins, into and around the
holes in the socket, basically filling any gaps where
condensation might form. After reassembly, we
booted into Windows again, and let it run for another
15 minutes, again looking for any trouble. With
nothing showing up on the radar screen, we powered
down one last time, and slid the back panel off to
access the ChillControl unit. One end of the
cable plugs into the RJ-45 jack, while the other end
is then connected to an available serial port (make
sure to enable the port in the BIOS first). The
ChillControl software is loaded in directly from the
floppy disk from a DOS window. The Status area
on the left displays the current temperatures and fan
speeds. On the right is the Configuration Area,
where we could change the hold and start temperatures,
raise or lower the fan speeds, as well as manually
enter in the CPU speed in MHz. We made few
changes in ChillControl, lowering the Hold temperature
to -20 degrees Celcius and raising the Fan Speed to
85%. Rumor has it that a Windows version should
be in the works, which should make this process even
easier.
How low can we
go?
|
