CoolIT Systems - Eliminator Cooling System

Introduction:

   When some people hear the phrase 'liquid cooling', they tend to do one of three things. They look at you blankly since they've never heard of it before, or they cringe because they've heard about something going wrong from somewhere before, or they say they wished they had the money and know how to install one. When you consider each prospective, any company capable of designing and producing a simplified alternative that will work for these three particular groups of people can quickly make a name for themselves. 

Recently, we had the pleasure of reviewing CoolIT Systems Freezone which did extremely well all around no matter the kind of conditions or abuse the system was put through. The Freezone had only one very minor flaw in that the fan noise can get a bit loud at full speed. Ironically, the 6000 plus RPM fan is actually overkill because the Thermoelectric Coolers (TEC) weren't producing enough heat against the giant center heat sink to warrant that fast of a fan. The Freezone performed superbly with a 120mm quiet fan since it could move the same or greater amounts of air at less RPMs and with less noise.

CoolIT understands that they have a winner in their corner toppling any other cooling system based on price and performance. Naturally, CoolIT understands that not everyone can afford or needs the more expensive Freezone. For those willing to cross from the air to the liquid side of cooling but waiting on something simple and providing a great bang for buck performance, the Eliminator comes to us at a smaller price to offer budget minded users an optional choice for cooling their processor.

Closer Look:

   The Eliminator has a few improvements and a dramatic price change to offer over the original Freezone. Not everyone out there needs the extra low temperatures unless they are running a Core 2 Quad processor night and day or really enjoy overclocking their processor to some extreme levels of performance. The Elimintor's current $200 price tag will entice any avid water cooling user who wants to cool of that hot processor.

Front

Back

Specifications

Performance

Let's start with the obvious differences between the Eliminator and Freezone. The Eliminator is cooled by three smaller Thermoelectric Coolers attached to the heat sink and three blue reservoirs. The heat sink is a bit more solid, slimmer, and longer. This slimmer build made it much easier to slide the motherboard tray back in the Lian Li case.

Bottom

Bottom Up Close

Top

Top Up Close

The next great improvement is the Thermal Controller Module which is no longer an external component. It's mounted to the Eliminator frame itself in such away as to not obstruct the heat sink's ability to cool the TECs. The module also has three performance settings. All of the fan and power wires are already connected to the Thermal Module so you don't have to worry about proper connections anymore. The only wire you have to worry about is a 4-pin IDE power connector.

Eliminator (Top) - Freezone (bottom)

Eliminator Thermal Module Close Up

If you remember the Freezone installation process, the kit included a 90mm to 120mm fan adapter plate for cases with the larger 120mm fan in the back. The Eliminator frame mount has the 120mm holes drilled in to the plate already eliminating the need for an adapter. Mounting the Eliminator should be as easy as tightening four machine screws without worry of anything bending or falling off.

Back & 2 TECs

Integrated Adapter

Front

4pin Power

The CPU Cooling Block is the same one as the Freezone uses. These are very solid blocks and require a bit of caution if you are installing on an older bare processor without the aluminum IHS that the newer processors have today. The tubing is secured by ring clamps which means you don't ever have to worry about leaks from the block. The tubing itself is very pliable and can easily flex despite the tube braid that is used to prevent kinking.

CPU Block

Cover

Cover Removed

Tubing Close Up

Taking the three smaller TEC and reservoirs in to consideration, the volume at which they are capable of cooling will be smaller which means that temperatures will undoubtedly be higher than the Freezone. Exactly how high? Let's install it and find out.