Stupid design. For optimal performance of TEC, one must remove as much heat as possible from hot side of the element.
Half the number of heat-pipes come from the cold side of the element. they should have made the top plates out of copper and big enough to fit all of the heat-pipes.
A TEC element itself produces a lot of heat as well, so using air-cooling for the element is not very good idea imho.

Please use Extreme Heat (Quad Core CPU) and ReTest Please !!

I've installed the Ultra CHillTEC on my new Rig and it works VERY well. System info:
nForce 680i M-Board
Intel QX6800 CPU O/C 3.2GHz
4GIG Corsair Dominator O/C RAM
2X GeForce 8800 Ultra video Cards (SLI)
3X W/D Raptor H/D's
Vista X64

When running Halo 2 for Hours, the CPU Core temp NEVER gets above 115deg F. At idle the Core temp is around 90deg F. I admit I'm using the Aurora 57 with the Grille on the side and that has allot to do with why everything stays cool, but the CHillTEC does its job very well.
I like the idea of splitting the Heatpipe and cooling Fans. Why? Because the direction of Airflow is CPU cooler first, TEC cooler second. This eliminates cross heating of the CPU/TEC cooling, making it even more efficient.

I'm sitting here right now and it's blistering hot outside. So hot that it's 87deg F in my little Room, sucky A/C, I know, LOL!
Anyway with the Room temp being 87deg F, the CPU Core temp is 98deg F. I just got through playing Halo 2 about 15 Min ago as well and during Game play in this heat, the CPU Core temp only got to 110deg F.

I know some don't like the idea of TEC cooling being better than Water and I was a little aprehensive too. But after giving the Ultra ChillTEC a chance, I'm glad I went with it, instead of Water cooling.

I read quite a bit about CPU cooling and went with the Ultra ChillTEC for my new Rig.
Here's the article:
http://www.eggxpert.com/blogs/kentuckyranger/archive/2007/0 7/14/monster-dream-machine.aspx

So far thie ChillTEC is performing very well on my system. At idle, the Core temp is stable at 32deg C. When Gaming it only gets up around 35-38deg C.
So far with all the O/C and Benchmarking, I'm glad I went with the Ultra ChillTEC over Water cooling.
I can say this with confidence because if my Rig isn't extreme, I don't know what is.
As for poo pooing the fact that it only has 1 Fan makes me thing you where looking for a reason to put it down. Sounds like another Water cooling Don Quixote.
Ultra's design really makes sence in a Physics aspec because they've eliminated cross heating between the CPU and TEC cooling. The direction of Airflow makes all the sense in the World becaus the cooler intake Air is used to cool the CPU first, then the TEC gets the Air second. I had my own apprehentions about the small Fan myself but since I got some run Time on my Rig I can see it was an un founded fear.
Sitting here in this hot Room, 88deg F. The Ultra ChillTEC is keeping the CPU Core temp at 98deg F.
IMO, the Ultra ChillTEC is a viable alternitive to Water cooling.

One other thought. Why are you downing the Fan noise? When my system is running the Fan on the ChillTEC is VERY quiet.
Like I said before, it sounds like you really looked for every reason to down this very fine unit.
The only thing I can agree on is the added weight of the Shroud. They did go overboard with it, but with the weight being distributed well over the M-Board with the mounting Brackets things shouldn't be too bad.