The Ultra ChillTec looks like a typical "high-performance" air cooler, with clear cooling fan that lights up in blue. But a closer look reveals several additional wires needed to activate the TEC module and monitor its temperature.

From the underside, we can see this is actually two coolers, with four heatpipes running from the base plate to the front sink and four more running from the top plate to the rear sink. The front cooler removes heat directly from the CPU when the TEC is off, while the rear cooler assists the front whenever heat reaches a threshold temperature.

This design removes two risks previously known to TEC CPU cooling: First, an electronic control turns the TEC off and on at a pre-set above-ambient temperature to prevent condensation which could otherwise short-circuit motherboard components. Second, should the TEC fail, the electronic control can switch it off while the CPU still receives some cooling from the primary sink.

Keeping the CPU above ambient may reduce risks (and reduce power consumption under lower loads), but this method also eliminates the extreme overclock settings achievable at below-ambient temperatures. Thus, the ChillTec is better compared to a room-temperature water cooling configuration, rather than the high-risk "always on" builds of old.

Ultra houses its electronic controller in a 5.25" bay device with back-lit monochrome LCD, which displays plate temperature and workload. Note: The bright finish is chrome, but appears white in these photos due to reflection of a white background.

The rear of Ultra's ChillTec controller has a power input (right), power output for the cooling module (center), and TEC monitor interface (left)