Kryotech Cool K6-3 500

AnandTech hinted at a tiny revolution the Cool K6-2's design was scheduled to experience soon enough, and after weeks of testing, manipulating, and modifying the design, Kryotech is back with the latest revision of their Kryotech cooling technology found in the new Cool K6-3.

The first problem that needed to be addressed was the KryoCavity, the root of a large portion of the problems with the original design. Kryotech devised a method of establishing the closest thing to a vacuum between the motherboard itself and the KryoCavity, by doing so they managed to eliminate the need for a thermal jacket to prevent condensation from forming, and thus allowing the CPU to plug directly into the motherboard.

The motherboard itself features a frame mounted around the Socket-7 CPU interface as well as the surrounding capacitors on the motherboard which is attached to the board through the use of Kryotech's own "home brewed" epoxy. Along the top side of the frame is a ring that allows an air tight seal to be maintained between the top of the frame and the new KryoCavity, at the same time, the epoxy on the bottom of the frame is an extremely tight seal therefore allowing very little heat to escape the cavity.

Unfortunately this means that the motherboard is attached to the frame of the cavity for life and it cannot be safely removed without damaging the board itself, this does hinder the expandability of the system for the future but at the same time, Kryotech's motherboard choice of the ASUS P5A for the Cool K6-3 500 is a much more well rounded one than the older PA-2013.

On the topic of expansion, Kryotech took the obvious suggestion of placing the system monitoring LCD panel in a more desirable location by placing it near the bottom of the ATX case and out of the way of the third and now free 5.25" drive bay. This increases the number of available drive bays on the Kryotech Cool K6-3 system to 2 - 3.5" and 3 - 5.25", although it could be much better, the extra 5.25" bay does make the difference. Kryotech is currently browsing possibilities for an even larger case for their upcoming solutions, however officially, nothing has yet to come of their investigation.

The new cavity removes the need for the thermal jacket from the original design and allows for the design to be more easily adapted to different motherboards in the future. Although you, as a user, won't be able to go out and purchase a new motherboard for your Cool K6-3 system, Kryotech will be able to modify their design to support a new motherboard in a much shorter amount of time. The lack of the thermal jacket also happens to drive the cost of manufacturing and producing the system down considerably, placing the Cool K6-3 system at a price level about $400 less than the original Cool K6-2. With a $1250 price tag, Kryotech is slowly but surely making their revolutionary technology within the reach of the average consumer.