HardwareCentral heeft een review online gemikt van de MC370-3, een cpu koelinstallatie die bestaat uit een peltier element en een heatsink met luchtkoeling. De unit presteerde aardig goed en haalde de temperatuur met ongeveer 25 graden naar beneden vergeleken met een standaard heatsink en fan. Dit is aardig goed, er zijn aardig wat waterkoel systemen die dit niet halen. Het enigste probleem bij deze unit is de installatie: je hebt het condens probleem en je hebt waarschijnlijk ook nog een 2e power supply nodig:
On the subject of installation, we’d like to remind our readers yet again that powerful coolers such as this can be very dangerous if not installed and used properly. It’s well worth spending the extra few minutes to ensure installation is complete and proper, and firmly eliminates any chance of condensation. Water inside one’s case is not good, for obvious reasons.
In terms of performance, well, what can we say? The MC370-3 took a Celeron 900 that ran at over 40C, and chilled it to an icy 16C at maximum, and even to below-freezing temperatures at idle. Moreover, while the Celeron wasn’t wonderfully stable at 900 MHz with the stock Intel cooling, when used with the MC-370, it was solid as a rock. At present, most of the users interested in this type of device are overclockers, so the unit’s usefulness is best examined from an overclocker’s perspective. Thermoelectrics, and the MC370 specifically, are useful in two ways. Firstly, they allow excess heat generated as a result of overclocking to be removed effectively, thus ensuring the safety of the processor. Secondly, when such cold temperatures can be achieved (10C or less), processors are able to function at higher clockspeeds, and with greater stability, than at a higher temperature. This will allow hardcore overclockers to tweak at least a few extra MHz out of their processors, while keeping them safe from thermal damage.
![]()