Vapochill or Prometia?

skankinredskankinred
edited March 2006 in Hardware
I'm looking to buy either one of these as they seem like the best cooling system out there right now. Anyone have any preference for either one and which one they would buy if they wanted one?

I saw a 1 year old used Vapochill on ebay for 600...pretty tempting. Anyone know about the reliability of these? Does one use less power than the other? Any help would be appreciated.

P.S. I just joined team short media :respect::csimon:

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Lemonlime will probably pop in here in a minute, but in the meantime, he did a great Asetek Vapochill review.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited March 2006
    Congrats on joining the team. :D

    I'm not sure, but I don't know if Prometia is in business any more. I know they were in severe financial trouble a year or 2 ago. As for the Vapo, I'll let lemonlime answer you there, since he has one (and is having a blast with it). I'd love some phase change but 2 reasons keep me from it. 1. They are on the expensive side, even used and also in dealing with the increased running costs due to the compressor and also dealing with the extra heat(I already have 8 computers running in my computer room). 2. I work on drilling rigs offshore the coast for 2 weeks at a time and I would have to shut the machine down while at work due to not having someone around to monitor it properly.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2006
    Welcome to Short-Media, and thanks for joining Team 93!

    I don't have any experience with Prometia/nVentiv products, however both the Mach II GT and the Vapochill LS are the best products from their respective manufacturers. I've been using my Vapochill LS for about four months now, and I have been very happy with it.

    I wrote up a pretty detailed review here: http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=299

    Hopefully you'll find some helpful info there.

    EDIT: Wow, three replies within one minute of eachother :)
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited March 2006
    Yea, his review is what got me dreaming of it :cool: I've checked out reviews of prometia on THG as well. Just can't decide which to choose.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited March 2006
    Either one should be a great choice and you can have a bunch of fun pushing your stuff hard with a little frozen action.
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited March 2006
    primesuspect wrote:
    Lemonlime will probably pop in here in a minute, but in the meantime, he did a great Asetek Vapochill review.


    Prime, I read your journal of OC'n your opteron 170. I'm curious, why did you buy an opteron with only 1000 bus speed. Someone referred it to the same as fx-60 since you oc'd it to the same speed, except for the bus speed. Is the opteron unlocked like the fx series as well? In a comparison benchmark, would it be the same for a gaming machine? If so, I think I'll copy your setup with a DFI mobo :eek2:
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2006
    skankinred wrote:
    Yea, his review is what got me dreaming of it :cool: I've checked out reviews of prometia on THG as well. Just can't decide which to choose.

    Glad you liked the review :cheers:

    One thing to consider with Prometia/nVentiv products: As mudd mentioned above, they are no longer in business. It will be very difficult to have a unit repaired/replaced. Asetek is also comitted to producing new CPU socket kits, so that you can use your vapochill with newer sockets (like LGA775, AM2 etc). You'd have to custom fabricate something for use on a Mach I/II.

    Personally, I found Asetek's chill-control system and condensation prevention methods to be top-notch compared to the nventiv products as well.

    Despite these disadvantages I listed above, there is no doubt that there is a lot of bang for the buck with the refurb/used Prometia equipment. www.kit-tronics.com has quite a few refurb Mach II units for under $600. I think they give you a short warranty period and all of the required accessories too. The Vapochill LS/Mach II GT are more in the $900 range.

    What is your system configuration that you plan to use with one of these bad boys ? :)
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2006
    skankinred wrote:
    Prime, I read your journal of OC'n your opteron 170. I'm curious, why did you buy an opteron with only 1000 bus speed. Someone referred it to the same as fx-60 since you oc'd it to the same speed, except for the bus speed. Is the opteron unlocked like the fx series as well? In a comparison benchmark, would it be the same for a gaming machine? If so, I think I'll copy your setup with a DFI mobo :eek2:

    In actuality, the bus speed is identical to an FX-60. The HTT bus frequency is 'double data rate' much like DDR ram, so 1000MHz = 2000MHz according to AMD's specifications. There is literally no difference between a dual-core 939 opteron and an FX60, the core and architecture is identical (Toledo core).

    The only real difference is the unlocked multiplier on the FX60. The Opterons are unlocked downwards only (just like the Athlon X2s).
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited March 2006
    Thanks boss. This community is really helpful; loving it already.


    EDIT: Just ordered for $600 off fleabay; hope it comes with everything and lasts a long time :thumbsup:
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited March 2006
    Oh, I'm a little confused because on the AMD website it says:

    Opteron HyperTransport™ Technology Speed 1000MHz
    Athlon 64 FX: HT Speed 2000
    Opteron Front Side Bus frequency 1.4 - 2.8 GHz†
    † The front side bus (interface to memory) of the AMD Opteron™ processor runs at the speed of the processor

    On THG if you click on cpu > cpu charts > on the right side you can see the processors and their HT listed by an advertisement as well showing the same data.


    Building:

    Asetek Vapochill LS
    DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D
    Opteron 170
    Corsair Twinx2048-3200c2
    Geforce 7800 GT
    Creative Audigy Plat
    FSP Group FX600-GL PSU
    Western Digital 74 GB SATA 10K Raptor
    Maxtor 500gb
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    The HT speed has a multiplier that allows it to run synchronously with the CPU speed. It's a confusing issue, but once you start overclocking it, you'll definitely understand it 100%. lemonlime's article on AMD64 overclocking is a great resource for this.
  • skankinredskankinred
    edited March 2006
    I understand as you OC it that the bus speed increases, but I'm confused why on 2 places(amd website, and Tomshardware) say that opteron bus speed is 1000mhz.
    Why would they say the fx/64 are 2000 instead of saying 1000mhz if all 3 are 2000mhz in total(since it's double like ddr)?
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2006
    skankinred wrote:
    I understand as you OC it that the bus speed increases, but I'm confused why on 2 places(amd website, and Tomshardware) say that opteron bus speed is 1000mhz.
    Why would they say the fx/64 are 2000 instead of saying 1000mhz if all 3 are 2000mhz in total(since it's double like ddr)?

    Thats a good question, and I'm really not to sure why. To the best of my knowledge, the 939 Opterons are identical to their Athlon counterparts. The steppings, and core revisions are even the same. AMD usually speed bins the Opterons a little better, since they are techincally a higher end, business class chip, but feature-wise, they should be the same. I'm going to see if I can find an explaination for the discrepancy.. that is odd.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited March 2006
    If you've got UK contacts, the Prometia is not dead by any means and can be found new here.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2006
    madmat wrote:
    If you've got UK contacts, the Prometia is not dead by any means and can be found new here.

    Ahh cool.. Looks like www.kit-tronics.com sells new prometia equipment as well (not just refurbs). I'm still uncertain whether or not they are still in production, or if they are just trying to kill-off the remaining stock.
  • madmatmadmat
    edited March 2006
    I remember reading somewhere that they were bought out and still in production. I can't remember where I read it but I believe the UK outfit is the one that bought them out (if I'm not mistaken) but don't hold me to it.
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