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Introduction

Kool Solutions is probably not an outfit that most users are familiar with. In fact they were not a company that we had heard off when they initially contacted us. Based out of Illinois, Kool Solutions is a small operation with an unique product, the Chill Vent. When a processor overheats, the first reaction is to either get a new heatsink fan combo or another case fan. A problem with a replacement heatsink/fan is removing the original heatsink/fan, something a lot of casual computer users would not be comfortable with. With Athlon XPs, there is a risk that the core can get crushed when mounting the heatsink or jamming a screwdriver into a motherboard. The P4 and the Athlon 64 are protected by that but the latch system that the P4 uses can also be difficult to remove. Additionally there is the danger of an end user forgetting to apply paste. This is where the Chill Vent comes in. Rather than just a brute force method of increasing the heatsink and fan size, the Chill Vent routes air from cooler parts of the case towards the processor. It does not require the removal of any existing solution making the installation process a lot less daunting. No tools nor force are required either so the motherboard is safe also. The thinking behind the Chill Vent is sound so we'll go ahead and take a look at the product.

Initial Impressions

The Chill Vent came in a fairly large box and international postage rates will make up a large part of the cost of it if it is being shipped outside of North America. Although the box was on the large side, the contents were not particularly heavy. The Chill Vent itself is a pretty simple apparatus; it consists of three plastic pieces that guide cooler air from the case towards the CPU. Devices of this nature are not completely new; Appro, a company that specializes in servers uses a similar system with cardboard shunts. Kool Solutions, is the first company that I am aware of that is doing it for consumer PCs and they have the additional burden of having to deal with cases and heatsinks of different configurations whereas Appro just deals with their own in-house solutions.

Depending on where the vents on the side panels are located will determine which parts of the venting system are assembled. Our Chill Vent, the CV-28 Chill Vent II Deluxe also included an 80 mm fan as well as two 40 mm ones. A few plastic mounting pieces as well as two strips of velcro tape were also in the package as well as the instructions. The plastic pieces are an ice blue color . The finish on some of the plastic edges are a bit on the rough side with some slight irregularities that made removal of the plastic pieces a bit on the difficult at times. The plastic itself though is flexible and is akin to the material found in baby toys which makes it seem quite tough. Pulling on the pieces with force to remove them did not break any tabs nor were there any signs of stress on the plastic pieces.