Swiftech H20-8500 Water Cooling Kit w/ GPU Block

Reviews: Cooling

Author:
Editor:
Sponsor:
Published:

Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Swiftech
Sep. 3, 2003

Specifications

<< Previous

Next >>

MCW5000 CPU Water Block

The MCW5000's housing is machined aluminum that has been anodized a cool blue. This keeps it looking nice and free from corrosion. Instead of using barbs to connect the tubing, Swiftech uses quick connect fittings that allow 1/2" OD tubing. You can use Swiftech's adapters to use smaller or larger tubing.

The base of the block is made of copper. The bottom is lapped extremely well; the best lapping job I have ever seen on a retail heatsink or water block. The opposite side of the base, which is located inside the block and comes in contact with the water, uses a unique design to transfer heat from the block to the water. It uses Swiftech's patent pending Diamond-Pin Matrix© technology which increases the surface area of the block and allows for better heat transfer.

The MCW5000 is mountable on AMD and P4 chips with the included hardware. The AMD version uses a unique mechanism that allows the block to be mounted to the socket. The P4 version uses a plate and two clips to mount the block onto the P4 retention mechanism preinstalled on all P4 boards.

<< Previous

Page 2 of 8

Next >>

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: MCW5000 CPU Water Block
Page 3: MCW50 GPU Water Block
Page 4: MCR80-F Radiator
Page 5: MCP300 Pump
Page 6: Fill / Bleed Kit & Other Hardware
Page 7: Installation & Performance
Page 8: Conclusion

Subscribe to Water Cooling [more info]

View All

Related Reviews

Innovatek Water Cooling

Water Cooling February 3, 2004

Zalman ZM-WB2 Water Block

Water Cooling September 24, 2003

Crossover Mission 5 water cooling kit

Water Cooling August 17, 2003

Iceberg 1 Water Cooling Kit

Water Cooling July 11, 2003

Add Comment

7 User Comments

1 - Posted by handrail on September 4, 2003 - 10:12 am

so far i have not been terribly impressed by water cooling. my vantec aeroflow stays around 40 during gaming and below 34 at idle.

i'm sure there are great h20 coolers out there for the big $$$$. but thus far, nothing has convinced me to make the switch.

2 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 4, 2003 - 3:28 pm

Well, there's a big difference between the performance of a kit and the performance of your custom system... it does cost more, but if you get the right items, the cooling should be amazing...

3 - Posted by handrail on September 4, 2003 - 9:01 pm

yeah, i understand that if i spend mega bux i can get ultra cool, ultra quiet machine. but, if the cheap ones run ~$200-300 and my cheap old $25 vantec can beat the kit water coolers, why are companies bothering making them.

my guess is because they are hoping to get that "it's cool to have watercooling" (bad pun, groan :cry: ) section of the market. but, most everyone who would use liquid cooling surely knows not to buy a crap kit.

just an observation on the industry. seems like they are wasting time and money...but someone must be buying these things...right???

4 - Posted by MaNiAk21 on September 4, 2003 - 9:15 pm

It's just the quiet issue that comes to play, some are perfectly fine with shelling out cash for ultra-quiet, entry-level cooling. I for one would not, but there are a lot of people out there with cash to burn...

5 - Posted by Hippy on September 5, 2003 - 12:44 pm

i am a little curious about your temp readings.

The difference in degrees C between the kit without the GPU block compaired to with is massive: 5c at idle.

Guessing that these are CPU readings?

That is a bit much... i mean to warm any amount of water by even a single degree takes a load of wattage/heat. I dont know the exact calculation but have read in other forums that the temps shouldn't raise by much, if at all by adding a GPU block. Hmmm (if i can find the thread then i'll link it) just seems wrong, could anything be wrong with the kit?

Cracking review though :)

6 - Posted by T-shirt on September 5, 2003 - 1:40 pm

I just quick scanned the review (no time today, I'll get back to it, I promise)
But I would guess the difference is caused by several factors.
Rad is too small, unable to deal with the extra heat,

addition of the gpu block is slowing the flow below the needed flow for the CPU block

error- in adding the gpu block you changed the CPU block/paste/cpu interface to a slightly less effective combo

7 - Posted by Brian on September 5, 2003 - 5:20 pm

The card that we tested with emits a LOT of heat. It can get in to the 60s ( ~temp read by probe on back of card (opposite of core)).

Since the radiator can't dissipate alot of heat, adding the GPU block caused the temps to increase alot (especially since the GPU gets hotter than the CPU in this case). With the 120mm radiator, you will notice no change in the CPU temp when adding the VGA block to the loop.

Add Comment

To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields.