Swiftech H20-120-FB Water Cooling Kit Review

Cooling/Water Cooling by Gamer @ 2005-02-18

Swiftech updates their popular H20-8600 water cooling kit, a new compact and silent pump and a large radiator and accompanying 120mm fan can make the H20-120 a true performer. Read on to find out how hard it can help push an A64 FX-55 and X800XT-PE towards overclock-heaven.

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Introduction

Introduction:

Swiftech, a company based in Southern California (USA), has already an excellent reputation in heatsinks, peltiers, and liquid cooling systems. A few months ago one of my fellow reviewers had a chance to check out the H20-8600 water cooling kit and found its performance and usability to be quite good for such a compact unit.

Today I take a closer look at their newest product, the H20-120™ REV.3 Liquid Cooling Kit, the earlier revision (Rev2) has another pump, the one included with Rev3 is smaller, quieter and easier to install, and it performs equally good (if not better) then the one provided with the older kit.

The H20-120 kit series can be bought with mounting material for AMD A64 (S754/S939) and AXP (S462) or Intel S478/S775. Xeon and Opteron based systems are also supported.

The standard kit contains the following items:


  • MCW6000™ CPU waterblock

    Madshrimps (c)
    Excellent craftsmanship, very smooth base


    Specs:
    - The inlet is centrally located to focus the lowest temperature fluid over the hottest area. The precise location and diameter of the inlet are calculated to optimize flow velocity and turbulence, thus accelerating the convection heat transfer into the fluid.

    - The water block base features a thin pin design (281 pins). This geometry maximizes the surface area exposed to the fluid, and promotes turbulent flow, both factors which also contribute to enhance the convection heat transfer, while exhibiting less overall flow restriction than competing designs.

    - The inlet and outlet are 3/8" in diameter, allowing direct use of 3/8" internal diameter tubing (1/2" OD) for good flow rates and reasonably unobtrusive tubing.

    - The block is an all C110 copper construction, to exploit the high thermal conductivity characteristics of this metal.


  • MCP350™ 12 Volts DC pump

    Madshrimps (c)


    I was really surprised by its petite size; this pump will fit into almost any ATX case without issue.

    Specs:
    Nominal voltage: 12 V DC
    Operating voltage range: 6 to 13.2 VDC
    Nominal power (@ 12 V): 8.3 W
    Nominal current (@ 12 V): .69 amps
    Nominal head (@ 12 V): 13.05 ft (4 m)
    Nominal discharge (@ 12 V): ~ 92.4 GPH (350 LPH)
    Connection size: 3/8" barbs (10mm)
    Maximum pressure: 22 PSI (1.5 BAR)
    Temperature range Up to: 140°F (60°C)
    Electrical connector: Molex 4 pin
    Weight: 7.3 oz (207 gr.)
    Motor type: Electronically commutated, brushless DC, spherical motor
    Pump MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): 50,000 Hours



  • MCR120™ Radiator

    Madshrimps (c)


    Looks like a Black Ice Xtreme, which translates in good performance overall.

    Specs:
    - 2-pass Radiator specifically developed for PC water-cooling
    - 1/2" (tube OD) quick-connect adapters included.
    - High-durability custom formulation acrylic paint finish
    - Rated for 378KCal per hour (1501 BTU per hour) or 440W*
    - 120 mm (4.72 inch) core consisting of flat brass tubes for maximum heat conductivity
    - High-density louvered copper fin configuration for enhanced heat dissipation
    - Built-in plenum chamber for increased performance and noise reduction
    - Self-tapping 120mm fan and case mounting holes for ease of installation
    - Compact 157 x 133 x 25 mm (5.9 x 5 x 0.98 inch) dimensions allows it to fit inside most mid-tower cases



  • MCRES-525 reservoir

    Madshrimps (c)


    A very conveniently formed reservoir, it fits in perfectly in a free 5"25 bay, the inside is separated into 2 compartments to reduce air bubbles getting in the water loop.

    Specs:
    - Durable high-density polyethylene for long term durability
    - Stepped down discharge compartment eliminates air entrainment into the pump
    - Unrestricted inlet and discharge ports
    - Pre-installed (silicone sealed) fittings



  • MCB-120™ : Fan / Radiator / Case mounting gear (optional, not included by default)

    Madshrimps (c)


    Specs:
    - 2 parts construction: holding plate and housing for ease of installation
    - Multiple slots for vertical and horizontal adjustments
    - Bolts directly to 60mm, 80mm, 92mm or 120mm fan holes
    - Custom pass-thru PCI bracket and adapters for 1/2" OD tubing (3/8" ID), designed for use with either quick-connect or conventional fittings such as worm-drive clamps included with kit.


  • Miscellaneous gear

    - vinyl tubing with coolsleeves installed, this will prevent bends in the tubes.
    - 10 tube inserts
    - A step by step installation manual.




    You can add additional water blocks to the system to cool down your motherboard north bridge (MCW20) or video card (MCW50). In this review I also take a closer look at the MCW50 which will be fitted on an ATI X800XT PE.

    Madshrimps (c)


    Specs:
    - 1/2" OD tubing for optimal flow rate
    - Patent pending Diamond-Pin Matrix© copper base plate for optimal heat transfer, and turbulent flow
    - The dual retention mechanism provides compatibility with a wide range of graphics processors such as ATI® Radeon™ 9000 to 9800 (incl Pro versions), and NVidia® GeForce™ families of products, including GeForce 6 series.


    Let's get this kit installed ->
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