Swiftech H20-8500 Water Cooling Kit w/ GPU Block

Reviews: Cooling

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Swiftech
Sep. 3, 2003

Specifications

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Conclusion

Swiftech has created a decent water cooling kit based around their high performance water blocks. The quality of the blocks is top-notch, and installation was easy. The pump was very quiet, and pushes a good amount of water for its size. Despite the pump's low noise, the fans included with the radiator make up for it, and then some. This isn't a very quiet kit. Performance-wise, the kit doesn't do that well, but it is aimed towards simplicity of installation. If a larger radiator was used, the performance would greatly increase, but the kit would lose its ease of installation as not many cases have room for a larger radiator. The fill and bleed kit was pretty easy to use, but I would have liked to see a reservoir instead.

Swiftech makes some great water blocks, but this kit is not one I would recommend for noise and performance reasons. The kit is quieter than a lot of high performance air cooling solutions, but it isn't for those trying to bring noise to a minimum. Those looking for performance should look elsewhere. Since Swiftech does sell all their products separately as well as in kits, you could get the water blocks and pump from them, along with a larger, better performing radiator such as the Dtek Pro Core.

For around $260 USD, I expected a little more from this kit. The blocks kick ass, but I would suggest you invest in a better radiator.

Pros

Superb quality
Easy installation
Looks great
Excellent water blocks

Cons

Performance is nothing special
Radiator holds back performance of entire kit
Not for those seeking extreme quiet
Expensive

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Page 8 of 8

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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

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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.

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