Swiftech Apogee XT High End CPU Water Block Review

Cooling/Water Cooling by leeghoofd @ 2009-12-30

Swiftech is not a company to rest on its laurels. After they successfully launched their Apogee series of CPU water blocks they were at the top of the performance charts for many months. But as time went by, competitors improved over the Apogee GTZ´s performance. Today Swiftech is back with a vengeance, the Apogee XT takes on 14 other CPU water blocks in this review. Can it beat the best? Time to find out

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The block

Introduction

The small but required introduction, copyright by the Swiftech company :

ap•o•gee: The farthest or highest point; the apex; a final climactic stage

The Apogee™ XT is Swiftech's new flagship water-block. It represents the culmination of months of research and development marked by hundreds of hours of competitive testing. The end result is a product that manages to surpass everything that made its predecessor -the Apogee™ GTZ, one of the best water-blocks in the world; a substantial increase in thermal performance, sumptuous functional elegance, unique convenience features for beginners and extreme users alike, all contribute to place the new "XT" in a class of its own.

Summary of benefits compared to the Apogee™ GTZ
  • PERFORMANCE: a consistent 3°C improvement over the Apogee™ GTZ was observed in testing the XT block with various Ci7 processors overclocked to 4.1 Ghz

  • STUNNING ELEGANCE: the XT water-block is entirely machined from copper and brass. The subtly sculpted brass housing receives a luxurious black chrome plating finish.

  • UNIQUE CONVENIENCE FEATURES: Swiftech's retention mechanism is universally recognized as the simplest and safest to use. It has been further improved to feature universal compatibility with all Intel® Core™ desktop processors. The XT also features a unique detachable inlet plate that can be rotated at 180° to allow installation of extra large compression fittings.


  • For those not familiar with the Swiftech company (shame on you!):

    Madshrimps (c)


    Founded in 1994 by Gabriel Rouchon, Swiftech™ has emerged in the last seven years as one of the leading forces driving the high-end thermal management scene in the personal computer industry.
    Pioneering work, innovation, and an uncompromising dedication to high performance and quality have resulted in award winning products setting standards for others to follow.

    In the seven years, Swiftech has demonstrated leadership through innovation on the high-end thermal management scene despite intense pressure from heavyweight industry players with powerful sales and marketing acumen. Swiftech has worked hard, and succeeded in creating a name recognized worldwide for quality and performance.


    Visit them at Swiftech website for more info on their entire range of air and water-cooling products. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed…

    Let's introduce the new kid on the block or is it the new block on the block :)

    Madshrimps (c)


    Extreme performance , isn't that what we all are looking for ? The box is a small black cardboard box, with just the sticker on the side listing the the parts included. The previous GTZ came packed in a nice blister, this one compared is dull, but if it performs, better who cares.

    Madshrimps (c)


    What you immediately notice, when comparing it to it's older brother the GTZ is the brass plated top, no more Derlin here. The Inlet is centered now. This centralized configuration can be kept if you use the appropriate fittings. If you intend to use big compression fittings you might need to swivel the inlet 180° towards the edge. This action can be easily done by loosening the six Allen key type screws. Sadly Swiftech didn't include the required Allen key in my sample (again :p)

    Here below is the picture from Swiftech website with some different fitting orientations/configurations:

    Madshrimps (c)

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