Introduction

Today I received the Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima watercooling kit. This is one of two high end kits from Swiftech, specially designed for those that seek the lowest temperatures AND be able to achieve those temps with the lowest possible operating noise… A win win situation if you ask me… the question is: does it indeed perform as advertised…Only one way to find out: let’s rip the nice cardboard box apart. I’m feeling really spoiled here; as I’ve always been a huge fan of their cooling products and support via Sir Gabe is also top notch.

About Swiftech

Before we continue a small word on the Swiftech company :

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…


Kit Specification

What Swiftech has to tell us about this specific kit :

The H20-220 Apex Ultima CPU liquid cooling kit continues our long established tradition of bundling our top performing components to produce the best cooling kit the market has to offer. A declination of this kit for complete system cooling is also available under the part number Apex Ultima Plus.

Featuring what many consider as the world's best water-block: the Apogee GTZ, the recently released MCRES-Micro Revision 2 , the classic MCP655-B pump and MCR220 dual 120mm radiator, the Apex Ultima receives a quantum boost in both performance and versatility.

As a result of the substantial cooling headroom afforded by this combination of top performance components the Apex Ultima kit will satisfy both extremes of the enthusiast market spectrum:

Overclockers in search of the lowest CPU temperatures AND Silent computing users in search of the lowest possible operating noise. Whereas an increasing number of cases can now accommodate dual 120mm radiators internally, users convenience was not forgotten, and the Apex Ultima is shipped standard with our MCB120 "Radbox" Revision 2 which allows the radiator to be bolted-on at the back of practically any mid-or full tower cases. Overall thermal performance also clearly benefits from the use of our Radbox demonstrated in a number of field tests.

Platform Compatibility

Intel® Core™ processor family (Core™2, Quad, Duo, Extreme) in socket 775 form factor (installed as factory default)

Intel® Core™ processors family (Core™i7) in socket 1366 form factor with included hold-down plate, for both Desktop and Server versions

Intel® Server processor family (Xeon™) in socket 603, 604 and 771 form factors (free hold-down plate sent factory-direct on demand worldwide)

AMD® Athlon™, Opteron™, Phenom™, and Turion™ in their respective socket form factors - 754, 939, F, and AM2 (free hold-down plate sent factory-direct on demand worldwide)

A closer look inside the box :



Opening the package revealed the following items:

A well documented manual, with nicely illustrated drawings, concise descriptions of how to install each component. By following this manual step by step (available in 2 languages ) even my grandmother must be able to install this kit. It might take her a bit longer, but she will definitely get the same end result : a perfect working water-cooling installation.

If you want a look for yourself you can always grab the manual from the website here:Swiftech Ultima Manual (.pdf)

The Apogee GTZ water block : Packed in a nice blister with eye catching claims as : “the ultimate cooling machine” , “extreme performance waterblock”, etc…I think you get my drift. This is one mean lean water block designed for top performance. It looks absolutely gorgeous, in layman’s terms: pure hardware pr0n. The block is bundled with socket 775 (Core 2, Pentium 4/D) and socket 1366 (Core i7) support brackets. So where does that leave the AMD or other socket users? They can ask the appropriate socket adapter within 90 days of the date of purchase for free via Bacata.net (proof of purchase required of course).

MRC220 Radiator with RADBOX : yes radbox not rudebox . Still one of the more popular dual 120mm rads in circulation because it delivers the goods at an affordable price. I’m not going to bore you to death with flow charts and all sorts of graphs as the die hards will look for that themselves. The rad is preinstalled on the Radbox with 2 x 120mm fans and the whole seems very sturdy. A nice addition are the 5 and 7 volt fan adapters in the package

For the pump Swiftech included the powerful MCP655-B pump, including mounting hardware and hose clamps. This is the slightly cheaper version of the MCP655 as it doesn’t include the 5 adjustable speed option. If pump noise is an issue I might compare this pumps performance with the vario version in the review. Again don’t expect flow charts just temp results.

The MCRES-micro reservoir is the version 2. What’s different from V1 you ask ?

One of the big complaints of V1 concerning the filling hole, which had a thread that was not compatible with normal adapters like G1/4, also the plug was of some sort of plastic and got damaged easily. This has been revised, so the thread is now G1/4 and the plug is made from chromed plated brass.

Secondly the V1 made loads of foam or small air bubbles. A small vent should eliminate that phenomena.

Third and last difference is that the V2 has got an extra port on the bottom, to be used e.g. with an additional temp sensor . I hope the pictures will tell more than a thousand words ever could.

Due to the pump choice, running small diameter tubing is impossible without modifying the pumps in and outlet. So 8 feet of 7/16” tubing is included in the package. To prevent kinking in tight bends Swiftech also included their famous Smartcoils. Proving again that this kit is includes everything you need.

A Closer look on the Apogee GTZ CPU Block :

Let's have a closer look at the main cooling component of this kit: The Apogee GTZ block

Its predecessor was criticised due to its coated top. In combination with certain fluids the coating got loose and polluted the water-cooling loop. Swiftech corrected this by opting this time for a durable Derlin top. Barbs included are for 1/2 and 3/8 inch.

The new micro dot matrix should enhance cooling even further, bringing the GTZ at and beyond D-Tek fuzion V2 level.



The base finish is practically a mirror coating, I say practically as my sample had some light abrasive marks.



But what is really interesting about this block is its ingenious mounting mechanism; forget about quadruple springs, spacers nuts etc... Swiftech made an example here for the whole industry how a good solid mounting mechanism should be. Thanks to its design, you cannot loose any of those little nifty parts and the mount is each time the same. Over and over again!

3 Test Setups for the price on one!

To provide as much real world data as possible I compared the performance of the Apex Ultima kit to a high end air cooling from Thermalright (Ultra-120 Extreme) and tested the older Apogee GT block with the Apex kit.

I tried to cover all bases of the current hardware enthusiast, one Intel E8500 dual core, one Intel QX9650 Quad core and one recently released Intel Core i7 920 quad core. Of course we overclocked each CPU to see how the extra generated heat changed the outcome.

Leeghoofd's E8500 Test Setup
CPU	Intel E8500 @ 3.5 1.18v & 4Ghz 1.21v vcore
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1000rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima Swiftech Apex Ultima with Apogee Block
Mainboard	Gigabyte EP45T UD3P
Memory	4Gb Excelleram PC12800 C9-9-9-24 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Leeghoofd's Qx9650 Test Setup
CPU	Intel QX9650 @ 3.6 1.18v & 4Ghz 1.26v vcore
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1000rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima
Mainboard	Gigabyte EP35DS4
Memory	4Gb Mushkin Ram PC8000 C5-5-5-12 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Leeghoofd's I7 920 Test Setup
CPU	Intel I7 920 @ 3.6 1.21v & 3.8Ghz 1.28 & 4Ghz 1.42v vcore HT ON
Cooling	Thermalright Ultra-120 + 1600rpm boxed fan Swiftech Apex Ultima
Mainboard	Gigabyte X58 UD5
Memory	4Gb Excelleram PC12800 C9-9-9-24 2T
PSU	OCZ ModStream 700W

Test Methodology

Thermal paste used: Arctic Ceramique (from the swiftech kit). Temperatures were monitored with the Realtemp

Socket 775 systems (Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad)

I used prime with small FFT 20k for the CPU load test for 2 hours for the Apex Ultimate with GTZ and GT WB Block; the fan on the radiator was run at 12v as well as 7v (at 5v it was inaudible, quieter than the already dead silent pump). For the air cooled test with the Thermalright HSF we used a 1000rpm 120mm fan and ran the load test for approximately 1 hour until temperatures stabilized.

Socket 1366 system (Core i7)

Same setup as for the S775 systems, except for the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme which I now paired with a 1600rpm 120mm fan.

Installation

Installing this kit in a medium tower shouldn't pose much of a problem as the 240 radiator is on the outside. The Micro reservoir, as its name suggests, is amazingly small and does its job nicely. The tubing cleared and most of the air bubbles were gone after about 25-30 minutes. Just some bubbles were still noticed in the reservoir. Once the bleeding was over and done with, the water level in the reservoir didn't drop during the next days of testing.



For determining the length of the tubing, take your time and measure everything twice, as cutting them too short can not be undone. A useful tip straight from the manual: soften the tubes in warm water; this will facilitate the installation over the pump in and outlet. The barbs on the radiator and reservoir are plastic and again the hosing needs some softening to facilitate installation. On the CPU block with the alloy barbs this is not really required. It would be nice to have these alloy barbs all over the kit which would make it easier to detach a hose (if ever needed)

I always setup my loops in the following manner: Pump -> Radiator -> CPU Block -> Reservoir -> Pump. But the order of the components in the loop, with a single water block, doesn’t matter much for the overall water temperature or performance; but I do prefer to put the components in the order mentioned above.

Here's my setup in a Lian Li case :



Picture was taken during the leakage test. As you can see the tubing is still full of air bubbles.
I didn't need to use the smart coils as I had an abundance of space available.

Performance Results

The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 was tested at three different overclocked speeds, 3.5Ghz, 4Ghz and 4.5Ghz;



The Intel QX9650 was tested at 3.6Ghz and 4GHz



Last, but not least, the Intel I7 920 at 3.6Ghz, 3.8Ghz and 4Ghz



Performance analysis and conclusive thoughts next ->

Conclusive Thoughts

For a 45nm dual core, this kit might seem overkill for sub 4ghz operations as it hardly beats the high end air cooler. These findings were confirmed by using the older Apogee block in the setup. Temps hardly rose (1-2°C max) over the new kit. Once going over 4ghz this kit did come out better. The air cooler started to slack and couldn't complete the 4.5Ghz 1hour run at 1.375vcore. With the Swiftech kit the E8500 remained stable around 52°C. Testing high end cooling kits on a CPU with a low heat output isn't such a good idea as the differences are really minimal.

For the quick 45nm quad test, the difference between the high end air cooling and the Swiftech Ultima kit became more apparent. Temp differences rose over 7°C under full load. For overclockers or for those that want that little extra gaming power AND at the same time keep temps in the green(er) zone, a water-cooling kit like this one, is a must.

The new Nehalem I7 tests showed the true colours of this kit. The Thermalright lost all control over the Core i7 920 once we pushed over 3.9GHz. After 2 hours of Small FFT it maxed out at 87°C. The water-cooled CPU at 4ghz however, was pretty close to the TRUE's max temps tested at 3.8Ghz. Of course you can say that hardly any day to day app stresses a CPU as hard as the Prime test. But it's always nice to see that you still got some headroom before reaching them critical temps... The E8500 test also proved that with a high end water-cooling kit, stability can be maintained with less volts than the Air cooler.

Best fan setting to be used with this kit is the 7V speed... the 12V speed brings no major gains in the cooling department ( max 2-3°C better performance ) it just adds noise, it could be suitable to get rid of your mother in law ASAP as it's really disturbing. Like mentioned before I didn't test 5v as to me the fans at 7V are hardly audible.

To sum things up: a very nice and well designed high performance kit by the Swiftech company. The price (~$250) might scare some, but you get what you pay for. High quality and intelligently engineered components.

No worries that this kit will not perform: Just for fun, I shutdown one fan while testing the Core i7. The Ultima kit didn't budge and kept the hothead nice and stable around 70°C at 3.8Ghz and HT on. With the Core i7 we definitely see the need for better CPU cooling, while the popular Core 2 Duo didn’t really need H20 to shine, this new Intel CPU certainly does and Swiftech latest H20 kit is up to the task!

Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultima Water-Cooling Kit
Recommended for


Pros
+ everything you need is included
+ very detailed manual
+ Excellent build quality water block, pump and reservoir
+ Radbox is sturdy and an excellent option for H20 setups in smaller cases
+ Very noticeable performance gains over high end air cooler with Intel Quad Cores and the latest Core i7
+ Acceptable price/performance for enthusiasts

Cons
- Plastic barbs included could be replaced by alloy ones
- High entry price might scare some potential buyers
- No AMD mounting kits included by default (but can be requested)



I like to thank Swiftech and Bacata for allowing us to test this kit.