Introduction

Testing the limits of semiconductor technology is something most or at least some of us live for. That's right folks, overclocking, a procedure started out by a few specialists' users has turned out to be one of the biggest marketing selling points today.

As we go about reaching the limits of these hardware components, the biggest barrier everyone fails to fully overcome is "heat". Heat is like one big fat bully who just doesn't seem to go away easily. If you search around the web you'll come across many projects where people have implemented some wacky setups to beat this heat issues. Some have even gone to the extent of submerging their whole system in liquid nitrogen. While these are really innovative ideas, they aren't feasible to be implemented by (everyone) the less extreme users.

The easiest and cheapest form of cooling is provided by a heatsink and fan combo setup. While there are many impressive heatsink coolers out there, they aren't able to really push the limits we would like to see. Watercooling is the next step above this. There are many watercooling setups out there in the market, and you can get a decent system for around AU$250-300. They're not that hard to implement and by combining it with a good peltier will provide good overclocking freedom, even though the latest series of power hungry processors, has turned even that path into a very troublesome setup, necessitating excessively powerfull peltier elements, and even more heat production. However for extreme overclockers a setup of this nature still does not cut out as the best choice. For extreme overclocking we need to go into this new world of sub zero temperatures. This market is currently being dominated by a product called Vapochill. Vapochill systems are certainly very impressive; however there have been many known flaws in this system and installation of these units is far from easy or riskfree.

To compete in this exclusive market now comes a new Danish company called Chip-Con. Incorporated in late 2000, and actively marketing their product starting from May 2002, chip-con have been able to capture the European market like a storm. It's nice to see new competitors in this market as there aren't many who are willing to invest deeply in this kind of venture which is still in its formation stages. Chip-Cons main product is their Prometeia cooling system, which is claimed to be much superior to the famous solution Vapochill from Asetek systems.

Technical specifications:

First of all it must be noted that Chip-con have taken utmost care to ensure that their Prometeia cooling system second to none. Chip-con have partnered up with a Danish manufacture called Elcold Denmark who are specialists in chest freezers and coolers since 1961. So you're guaranteed to have a very reliable cooling system without doubt.

The case was sent to us by Chip-con over in Denmark and it was packed in quite a large box to ensure the safety of the unit during transit, and thankfully there was no damage to the unit at all. One thing you should be aware is that this unit weighs ton; well at least it seemed like that :). Actually the unit weighs around 27 -30kg I would imagine, so don't plan on moving it around too much.

Looking at the Prometeia cooling system you can't help but realize what a simple yet innovative design it really is. One of the main contrasting differences between the Prometeia cooling system and the Vapochil system is that in the latter, the cooling mechanism is located at the top of the casing whereas Prometeia have intelligently placed it right at the bottom. Therefore any leakage (If by some chance) or condensation that might occur during operation of the case will not affect the PC system at all. On the Vapochill system condensation will occour due to the fact that vapour diffusion penetrates the insulation sponges, unless the system is so heavily loaded that it never gets below the dew point, in which case your CPU isn't very cold at all. On the Prometeia Condensation cannot take place inside the processor as it is hermetically sealed off.

The main components that make up the Prometeia cooling system can be clearly identified separately. The top consists of a pretty basic Enlight EN-7328 Midi tower metal casing which has been slightly modified to accommodate the Microfreezer and the cooling unit. The Midi ATX case consists of four 5 ¼" drive bays and three 3 ½" drive bays, allowing decent amount of expansion. The casing alone is considerably heavy since it's metal, nevertheless opting for an aluminum case would be totally impractical.

The total unit is around 6cm taller than our Lian-Li PC75 casing, which makes the Prometeia system look quite a monstrosity. Some of you might be tempted to add a modified window kit to show off the internal workings of the Prometeia system. Personally I would love to do something of this sort and maybe add a blue neon light into the setup as well. This would certainly make the system one of the coolest looking and coolest performing setups that one could ever buy. Maybe we'll actually carry out this mod at a later time for your viewing pleasure.

Chip-con states that you could also add your own case if you deem it's nicer than the Enlight case. You'll need to make sure that the new case has similar dimensions as the cooling unit and you'll also need to cut a whole big enough for the thermal bus to pass through. The existing casing is attached to the cooling unit by a few bolts, so it's merely a matter of removing them and placing the new case.

Components of the Cooling unit

The cooling unit which lies below the case is comprised of the following components.

• Compressor
• Condenser
• Digital Chip Controller
• Microfreezer
• One 120mm rear exhaust fan
• One Condenser fan
• Thermal bus to carry the coolant to the Microfreezer

As you can see, the big black container in the center of the cooling unit is the compressor. Right in front are the compressor coils. The setup in the cooling unit looks pretty simple and basic, however there's much more going on behind the eye which is technically very advanced. The compressor is driven directly from the Mains supply (115/230V) and consumes around 130W. Depending on the workload of the processor this might vary. So this avoids the requirement for a high performance PSU as some of you might have thought. For the PC components it's recommended to have at least a 300W PSU for better overclocking results and stability. Chip-con sells two high performance PSU if you wish to go for; they carry a 433W Enermax unit and a 500W Leadman PSU.

The Microfreezer is where you attach the CPU. Once again this is another very complex design, which has been perfected by Chip-con. The Microfreezer has a built in heating element, which makes sure no condensation will form on the outside surface. During operation you'll notice that the top of the MicroFreezer is quite hot, but that's perfectly normal and you shouldn't be concerned.

Chip-Con sent us both the Intel and AMD CPU kits for testing. We'll show the results of both systems in our benchmark section, but for now we'll focus on installing the AMD kit. There's not much difference in installing the Intel kit, so this should be adequate.

Once you get the kit, make absolutely sure that all components are included. The AMD CPU kit should include the following;

• Two screws for evaporator mounting with load springs, shim spacers and O-ring seals
• Shim plates (Both for Intel and AMD Athlon/XP CPUs.
• One upper mounting bracket without threaded holes.
• Seal string. This is the substance you use to seal the Microfreezer and CPU together. The sealstring is a specially formulated material, combining the following desired parameters: water resistant, none curring, adheasing but still detacheable, highly flexible and non greasy, and non toxic.
• One rear cover without mounting holes (in the P4 kit it has mounting holes !)
• One rear cover Gasket
• One tube of Arctic Alumina Thermal compound.
• There should also be a special tool to adjust the screws

This is all that's provided in the CPU kit, so make sure you get them all. Alright, now it's time to get the ball rolling…

Even though I have not had the opportunity to take a look at a Vapochill system, from what I have seen and heard installing that kit is far from easy. This is another area where Chip-con's Prometeia system excels. I really didn't expect the installation procedure to be so easy and straight forward. The first installation took me around 45 Minutes to assemble everything since I needed to double check with the manual everything I did. Once you know where everything fits, the total installation procedure won't take you more that half an hour to get the PC running.

Before we go any further, the key point you should keep in mind is "how to avoid condensation". When a surface in free air goes below the temperature of its surroundings (also called the dew point), water builds up on that surface, this is because our normal ambient air contains somewhere around 50-70% humidity at 20 to 30 degrees, and whereas warm air can carry such humidity cold air cannot, and a freezingly cold surface works like a true vapour to ice pump, causing extremely fast build-ups of ice if surrounding free air is able to get access to the surfaces. Elementary electronics have taught us not to mix water with electronic equipment, and as such you must take utmost care to prevent condensation from forming inside the Microfreezer unit. We do this by sealing every possible entry point where air could get in, thus making it air tight.

First you need to place the rear cover on the back of your mainboard directly below the CPU socket. Use the supplied seal string to make sure the rear of the socket is fully air tight. Next you place the CPU inside the socket and attach the shim-plate provided for added support. Thereafter you attach the clip provided to the CPU socket legs, pretty much like attaching a CPU cooler. The clip comes with 6 eyes to ensure optimum safety and support; however I wish chip-con had a better clip design than this, since removing and putting the clip back on results in it bending in very awkward ways. This happened to me every time I removed the clip from the socket and as such I'm sure most of you would go through this as well. If you don't plan on removing it that often (Which is most likely the case) then this is not a major problem.

This was what we were told by Chip-con support on removing the clip;

"put the screws in the brass stands and use the screws as levers, presseing them together when you want to bend the Clips to open it. Be sure to hold the Clips against one side of the socket when pulling it over the taps at the other side. It seems the easiest to detach it from the taps in the end where the CPU is closest."

Finally you place the upper bracket around the CPU socket and seal it well. Take extra care to seal components that are caught under the bracket or else air will get inside the socket and ruin the whole operation. The seal string provided is very flexible and surprisingly not sticky. So you can easily remove it from unwanted places as required. The seal string that's provided seems to be very much similar to a water sealant I have used on various domestic works. Do not use any other product that you may find on the market without first making sure it's able to sustain the extreme cool temperatures the Prometeia system attains.

Once the installation is complete it should look something as follows;

Viola!!! You're now ready for some brand spanking action:. Well not quite yet, but almost there.

The Enlight case has a removable motherboard tray, so secure your mainboard onto the tray. Personally I'm not very impressed with the casing provided, but as Chip-con says, the only reason for going for such a casing was to keep the costs down. So if you already have a fancy case that matches the dimensions of the cooling unit, I would suggest you go with that. Once the mainboard is attached to the case, it's just a matter of attaching the Micro Freezer and the other required cables and then you're done. The manual provided does a very good job in detailing out everything you need to know.

The digital chip controller located at the front bottom of the case is an indicator to show the temperature of the Micro Freezer unit. You can also program the unit to settings you want the system to work in, but it's not recommended by Chip-con and they explicitly mention that they do not take any responsibility for the consequences resulting from these changes. The chip controller has been programmed to work at its optimum level by default when sent out by Chip-con, so unless you really know what you're doing, don't mess around with it.

Once the PC was fully loaded, it was time to turn on this super cooled beast. And I really do mean it when I say "super cooled beast". The link below is a small video clip I made just to show you guys what kind of temperatures we're dealing with. I don't know whether you'll notice but listen carefully when the temperature changes from -32c to -33c. This is when the system has attained its normal cooling temperature and the fan speed slows down. The Reset button and the Power button are both connected to the Chip-Controller. The system does not boot until the temperature in the Micro Freezer has reached -33c. The Chip Controller keeps sending a reset signal to the mainboard until this temperature is achieved and once it's so, the reset signal is released.

Even though the clip doesn't show it, the system was running at -50c at default. (Please note this is the temperature at very low or no load, and that it obviously might differ a bit from system to system)

Raising the issue of noise levels, as the system is turned on it's quite loud since all fans are turning at full speed to attain the desired temperature. However once it reaches the operating temperature it's hardly noticeable. In fact I could hardly here it working on top of the case fans and PSU fan. This will be heaven for someone who has been using Deltas which just seem to blast its way through the case. You simply cannot be annoyed by the noise since it's not repulsive at all. When was the last time you were repulsed by the sound of an air conditioner?

Now that you have seen what the Prometeia system is capable of, it's time to put this system to the test.

AMD Test System 

We overclocked the Duron 1Ghz to 1.6GHz without any problems at all. Limitations of the overclockability of the SOYO Dragon Ultra board didn't allow us to proceed any further without having stability issues. Nevertheless 1.6GHz for a 1GHz Duron is quite impressive. At idle the temperature was reading around -30C while at full operating level it went down to around -25C. We're still dealing with minus temperatures as opposed to the high temperatures we would see in a vapochil system. After looking at some performance comparisons the Vapochill system is no where close to the cooling performance given by Prometeia. Head over to Hardwaretestdk.com and check out their new review where they do a head to head comparison of the Prometeia system and the Vapochill.

Quake 3 and 3D Mark 2001SE show some excellent scores for a Duron 1GHz for sure. (Of course it's running at 1.6GHz). If you are able to overclock the CPU even further, which I know you can provided a good mainboard is used; you'll see 3D Mark scores ranging over the 10,000 mark at low resolutions. 

Intel Test System

We managed to get the CPU running at 3146 MHz (22 * 143) without any problems. However going beyond this mark resulted in the VGA card crashing, but if you have a mainboard where you can adjust the PCI/AGP bridge ratios, then I'm sure you'd be able to go beyond this mark. Nevertheless 3 GHz is still a very impressive mark to achieve and the CPU core was around -16C to -18C. It's just amazing to see these "cool" temperatures after having gone through air cooling all these years.