Introduction
After building several home-made water-cooling kits, and testing some pre-assembled kits, I still had mixed opinions about whether to build or buy when it comes to water-cooling. Swiftech has a new kit out for sale, known as the H20-8500 series. My first impression from the pictures I saw was, "Wow!" The kit looks very awesome, but there is still the question of how well it performs. Today I will be reviewing this kit and I would like to thank Swiftech for sending this kit my way.
Specifications
Before I write about anything, I would like to get a list of the features out of the way. Looks aren't everything, if a kit doesn't have the basic components that you need, it's not worth buying it. I am pleased to say that the Swiftech H20-8500 series kit has all the features you could ask for. Here is the list:
More information may be found here at Swiftnets.com, if you would like more detailed specs.
The Box
The Swiftech kit was packaged in the standard brown cardboard box, with a nice big white label letting you know exactly what is included in the box. When I opened the package, I found all the components neatly arranged in place with packing foam and some bubble wrap. The waterblocks and radiator each had their own seperate box, and all the small misc. pieces were stored in little zip-lock baggies. Swiftech included several, well-detailed, pages of instruction for installation of the kit. Their instructions take out all the guess-work thanks to the photos and descriptions.
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Breaking Down the Kit
Swiftech had a brillant idea: why not put the pump and the fill/bleed kit into one 5.25" bay for easy installation? Well the idea resulted with this kit. Swiftech takes their 115V MCP300 pump and straps it down to a 5.25" tray, then attaches a easy to use fill/bleed kit it. The pump's power cord is already cut and the wires are ready for attaching to the power relay kit (but I will get to that later). The pump's is rated at 330gph - plenty of power for an internal, closed-loop system. As you can see from the photos, Swiftech uses all plastic fittings for their kit. The plastic fittings are very reliable, however I found it hard to open and close the on/off valves. After a few uses, they may soften up though.
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The air to liquid heat exchanger included in the kit is swiftech new MCR80-F Radiator. This is actually a heatercore and not a radiator, and a very small one I might add. The radiator comes with two 80mm fans, one which is already mounted with a fan grill on it. The radiator is designed to fit on an 80mm exhaust mount in the rear of the computer. The idea is good, however for more powerful cooling power, a larger radiator would be desired. I will describe more of this component later in the review.
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The next part of the system that I pulled from the package was the CPU waterblock. I was sent the MCW5000-A, which includes mounting hardware for AMD processors. There is also a kit which includes Intel mounting hardware instead of AMD mounts. The waterblock is a 2 part construction, with the top being made of blue anodized aluminum, and a solid copper base. The block seems to have very clean and sturdy construction, and it features the quick-release fittings that the whole system uses.
I was notified (after the initial review) that the kit can be purchased with either this radiator, or a larger sized radiator (120mm fan sized I believe).
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This little gem is Swiftech's MCW50 GPU waterblock compatible with ATI Radeon 9000 series and nVidia GeForce 4 products. The waterblock has the same style construction as the CPU waterblock, only it is much smaller and is designed to fit on your video card. The waterblock also comes with two sets of mounting hardware, so you can mount it to an ATI Radeon 9000 series card, or a nVidia GeForce 4 series card.
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The last bit of hardware included is the PRS kit and 12 feet 1/2" vinyl tubing. The PRS kit is what gives the pump power when your computer is turned on. This kit is designed for easy installation, and is worth every penny spent on it. I use this kit on every water-cooling system I build for fool-proof operation. Lastly, they throw in 12 feet of tube for connecting everything in the system. The tube did have several kinks in it (not good!) but this was only because it was taped that way for packaging. After removing the tape, the kinks worked out and the tube stayed nice and round.
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The Victim
You may recognize this case from another Virtual-Hideout review. The case is the Cheiftech Matrix and was sent to us by Directron.com. You can find our review for it here. The hardware inside is an ABIT AD7-MAX2 motherboard with an AMD XP 2200+ CPU. The computer was using a rather expensive heatsync, and was getting idle temps of 46c on average. This beautiful case will be the new home of the Swiftech's H20-8500 kit. Being a full tower case, there is plenty of space for the kit to be istalled. The kit should also install into a mid-sized tower as well, as long as you have two free 5.25" bays.
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Installing the Radiator
The Cheiftec Matrix uses special clips for mounting 80mm exhaust fans. The fans on the radiator are too thin to plug into the clips, so I had to find another place to mount it. The easiest place was above the PSU in the upper half of the computer. I detached my PSU, then removed the plate from the computer. The fan mount above the PSU is designed for a 92mm fan, so I had to drill four holes in the plate to attach the 80mm radiator. The whole process was very simple and took about 10 mins. After I mounted the radiator and fans to the plate, I replaced it in the computer and re-attached my PSU.
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Mounting the GPU Waterblock
The video card that I am using is the GeForce 4 TI 4600. Once again, I am using hardware from an old review, as you can see the Thermaltake GeForce 4 Copper Heatsink already installed on it. I removed only the heatsink, but left the ramsinks in place. Using the hardware in the bag labeled "GeForce 4" I installed the waterblock to the GPU. You can see how this was done in the third picture below. It used 4 sets of nuts and bolts with springs to ensure equal pressure over the surface of the chip. Once installed, the block was un-movable, and I was positive it would stay in place. I almost forgot to mention that I put a thin layer of the included Arctic Alumina between the waterblock and the GPU before I bolted it to the card.
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Mounting the CPU Waterblock
The CPU waterblock was the easiest part of the system to install. After pulling the motherboard, I removed the old heatsink. After cleaning the top of the CPU with rubbing alcohol, I put a thin layer of the included Arctic Alumina over the chip. The waterblock mounts to the CPU just like any other heatsink. After clipping both sides to the motherboard, you loosen the two screws to tighten the block down. This works because of springs that are between the waterblock and the actual mounting clips. The result is a nice and tight mount to the motherboard.
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Installing the 5.25" Tray Setup
Ok, I thought installing the CPU waterblock was the easiest part, but I take that back. The easiest part to install was by far the 5.25" tray setup. All you have to do is slide it in, and put in a few screws on each side - just like installing any 5.25" drive. The setup does take up two 5.25" bays, so if you have a mid-tower, that only leaves you with two spots for larger drives. If you dont mind losing 2 bays, this kit is awesome!
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Installing the PRS Kit
Normally, you would install the kit into the back of your case. I decided to take this installation a bit further, and install it directly into my PSU. In a previous article I wrote up instructions on how to do this, and it can be found here.
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Installing the Tube and Filling the System
This is the part that I disliked the most. All of Swiftech's components are easy to install, except for the tubing. Swiftech uses "quick release" fittings, which are, in my opinion, the worst fittings every made. To install the tube into a fitting, you must first place a plastic insert into the tube. Then you need to use some sort of grease to lubricate the outside tube before you can insert it into the fitting. Once you do this, it takes a good deal of work to push the tube all the way into the fitting. Doing this in a cramped computer case can result in broken computer equiptment and busted knuckles if you are not careful. After a long time of installing the tube into the fittings, I was finally ready to fill the system.
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The green liquid in the first photo below is the coolant mixture. To create the right mixture for the system, you need 32 fl. oz. of distilled water (about 4 cups). After mixing the water with the included 2 Oz bottle HydrX extreme duty coolant, I was ready to fill the system. I am pleased to say that filling the system is much easier than installing the tubing. I followed the instructions on how to use the fill/bleed system, and sucessfully filled the kit in only a few minutes. All the air bubbles escaped though the bleed line and I closed the system wich was now filled with the air-free coolant mixture. Time for testing!
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Powering Up the Computer
When I powered on the computer, I went to the bios right away. I opened the "PC Health Status" menu and watched the CPU temp. After making sure that the CPU temp wasn't increasing too fast, I exited the bios and let Windows load. When I first checked Motherboard Monitor, I found the CPU temperature to be 41c. Not as good as I had expected, but still much better than the old air heatsink. I then decided to test the system out, so I started my normal PC activities - checking email, visiting websites, playing some games, chatting, etc. I checked the CPU temperature after awhile and it was at 44c according to Motherboard Monitor. After testing the system for a few days, I checked the Motherboard Monitor averages. You can see the results below. (please note that the LOW temperature is left over from an old home-made system, and the Swiftech kit's low was closer to 39c, not 29c!)
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Conclusion
Although I expected greater cooling power than my results, the Swiftech H20-8500 water-cooling kit is a very nice setup for anyone interested in lowering their temperatures. I believe the kit could have much more power if a larger radiator was used instead of the little 80mm one that is included. Overall, I like the kit very much, and would recomend it for those who want to watercool. There are always Pro's and Con's when reviewing a product, and here they are for the H20-8500 w/ VGA Cooling kit:
Pros
Cons
Final Thoughts
I would like to thank Swiftech for sending this kit my way for review. This kit will be available for purchase on their website. I encourage anyone interested in water-cooling to check out their products. If you are looking for a high quality, easy to install kits, Swiftech would be a great place to visit.