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!):

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 :)



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.



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:

Apogee XT Innards

The innards have been totally re-mastered. The micro pin design is covering now the total surface of the cooling area. Swiftech states on their website that some pins due to the mechanical production process can be slightly bend or miss-orientated.



You can still see the imprint of the center o-ring, the micro pin design is impressively small.



The brass top is a lot like the Heatkiller series, with big flow channels to maximize contact with the micro pin design and purely designed for maximal heat absorption.



Bottom plate has received a mirror finish; the milling on the edges is to improve compatibility with some Gigabyte motherboards. In case you are a Gigabyte I7 mobo owner and should get one of the earlier revisions, without this milling, please contact Swiftech for a replacement.




Swiftech even found a way to improve their patented retention mechanism. Maximizing compatibility for Intel CPU's (S775/1156 and 1366 with one top plate). This mechanism allows the user to have the same (ideal) pressure mount after mount.



Back plate in the box is only foreseen for the I7 CPU series. Other back plates and the whole AMD retention mechanism can be ordered for free by contacting lady Michelle at Swiftech via the following email : michelle@swiftech.com

Installation

Here's the exploded view of the block, revealing all it's innovative secrets:



The package contains the block, 2 x 1/2 tubing fittings and appropriate hose clamps, a tube of arctic Ceramique and a very clear and concise manual.



Installing the block is a breeze. Just put the back plate behind the motherboard, a thin line of thermal grease on the center of the CPU and screw down till it's completely fixed. Swiftech's retention mechanism is foreseen to be used with unlapped CPU's. In case your CPU is lapped, the pressure applied by the mechanism isn't correct anymore and you should add some washers for more spring pressure.



When you install the block take note of these 2 recommendations:



For the hose connection the center one is the inlet, the outer one the outlet fitting.





For my fittings it wasn't a requirement to change the inlet position, though the picture above clearly indicates it's a very tight fit

Test Setup and methodology

Leeghoofd's I7 940 Test Setup
CPU	Intel I7 950 @ 3.8Ghz 1.20 vcore HT ON
Cooling	MCP655 vario 2 and 5, Thermochill PA120.3
Mainboard	Asus Rampage Gene II 0809 bios
Memory	6Gb Corsair Dominator PC16000 C8-8-8-24 1T
PSU	Enermax Galaxy 1kw

Like in the previous roundup we tested using the same method. Here's a quick overview

The Apogee XT blocks was remounted 3 times (in the by the manufacturer recommended optimal position ) by using the supplied mounting kit.

I used a little carton template to get the same amount of TIM on the IHS. The Arctic Cooling MX2 (provided by JAHA.BE) was spread out by the pressure of the water block mounting. After the tests, the TIM was checked for a good spread out. If there was a bad mount the test would be repeated.

Tubing used was 2 meters of Tygon Black 3/8" tubing.

The Pump test were done via the MCP655 Vario equipped with an EK Waterblocks D5-X TOP, this to allow 1/4 AG fittings (pump speed setting 2 and 5 tested)

The total amount of fluid used each time was 800ml of Aquatuning Innovatek Pro fluid.

All test were started at 22°C ambient temp. The rig was allowed to heat up the fluid, during half an hour at idle speed. Load test was done at 3.8ghz at 1.2Vcore (no EIST enabled). Small note : under load the Asus Rampage Gene II, tends to slightly overvolt. So during testing the Vcore was fluctuating between 1.20-1.21Vcore.

As testing program I used Prime95 Custom 20K run for 1 hour stressing all 8 cores ( HT enabled )

The CPU temp was monitored by Everest Home and the Core temperatures by Realtemp. The latter is a nice program as it logs the highest core temps measured (making my life easier).

Pump speed set at Vario 2



Yes ladies and gentlemen, we have a new king. I tested and retested this block as I remain very skeptical with the claims manufacturers predict. Swiftech's claim however, of a 3°C over the previous GTZ block, comes very close to the observations I made. I hardly thought there would be a block that could match or even surpass performance wise, the high flow super Heatkiller 3.0 block. Swiftech engineers have pulled it off. A very good show there (think they will get a nice end of year present by their CEO ;-) ) You may wonder ; where are the alternative inlet readings ? They are about 0.1-0.3 worse then when the fluid is injected via the middle as this inlet position limits the flow a bit. Now let's increase the flow rate and see if she can keep the top spot secured.

Pump speed set at Vario 5



This new kid on the block remains on the number one spot, also after we maxed out the MCP655 pump. The lead is a bit less then with the vario 2 setting. But it remains a clear win. Water-cooling tests are getting harder and harder to do as these blocks are really so close performing.

Take note that I only use a single pump unit and that performance can vary from review to review. Loads of our American friends use dual and even triple pump setups, to push these blocks to their limits. Mostly they also stick with the 1/2 tubing and pump heavy volts through their test-bed. European loops tend to be less high flow, utilizing smaller bore tubing etc... I just install these blocks in my daily loop configuration. A setup that I suspect many readers will use themselves.

Temperature gain between flow 2 and 5 setting

Conclusive Thoughts

With the Apogee XT, Swiftech has regained precious ground on the top European block, the Heatkiller 3.0. It even manages to beat it on my test configuration! My review sample was in perfect shape. Why do I mention this? Because there are plenty of post on several forums, about blocks being badly shipped, some with missing pieces and some sadly with very badly machined blocks. Another big issue is the impossibility of some users to use their beloved fittings.

At the moment the discussion is still open if the culprit is the thread of the block or if it's the fitting's thread that is not up to standards. Swiftech's CEO Gabe Rouchon is replying directly to the user(s) involved, this to find a quick solution. He explained several times that there seem to have been some startup problems with the fabrication. Hopefully with this close follow up on any quality matter, these issues can be avoided in the future.

Aside of all of that: We got a new king to cool down your favorite CPU, even though the win isn't by a big margin on my simple loop setup. The improvement however over the previous flagship, the GTZ, is incredible. Sadly I never had the opportunity to test the GTZ SE block, which was also a nice step forward and rectified some of the flaws of the original GTZ block. Swiftech's redesign has really paid off! They claim the performance crown, who will it be to dethrone them? The new EK Supreme HF ?

How does this new blood, influence our bang for the buck chart?



The chart has changed a bit from our previous rounds, as this one is far easier to interpret. The blocks are listed from best till worst performer by taking the average temps between the two pump settings (blue bar). The red bar indicates the retail price we found on some watercooling sites like Aquatuning and Highflow. Looking at the chart and particularly focusing on the two top performers, we see that the Heatkiller still got the edge price/performance. But keep in mind that if you want to use the latter with a back plate, the price will be on the same level. The Watercool LC version remains the best bang for the buck, giving pretty good temps at an incredible low price.

Swiftech Apogee XT Recommended For:

Pros
+ Top performer, a new reference has been set
+ Probably one of the best designed retention modules
+ Back plate included
+ Additional brackets can be ordered free of charge

Contras
- Why no 3/8 barbs ?
- Missing Allen key

I wish to thank sir Gabe from Swiftech for giving me the opportunity to test this block and Milan from Asus for the Rampage Gene II sample.