Swiftech Apogee XL CPU Water-Block Review Introduction: Swiftech is a company that has been in the hardware cooling sector for around 20 years fulfilling the needs of an ever growing computer enthusiast and novices alike crowd with the desire to go for better than stock cooling on their hardware. With their unrivaled experience , customer support and warranty that accompany and follow this company since it's inception , innovative designs , quality , craftsmanship and the expertise on the high end water cooling solutions. Swiftech is proud to announce the new member on their water cooling line of CPU Water-Blocks , The Apogee XL. With a totally new design , reduced flow restriction , better performance thanks to the new cooper block base-plate wish is precision-machined from C110 copper. Thermal design of the cooling engine is characterized by Swiftech's fin/pin matrix composed of 225 m (0.009") micro structures; the matrix has been further refined with variable width cross channels to improve flow rate without affecting thermal efficiency. Looks to envy , the new Swiftech Apogge XL housing is precision CNC machined out of durable black POM Acetal. Also incorporated in this new design is a clear window wish lights up when connected to any 3 pin fan connector , inter-changeable color filters are included ( Blue , Red , Green or White ) for you to choose from , or if you like to mod things , you can also make your own colored designs for your Moded rig or buy a pre-moded color filter ( performancepcs.com has some awesome designs for sale - http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...98_493&zenid=c584f8ff1d8982eab34332099517abdf ) , that is an advantage and the beauty of this water-block. Technical Specifications: http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeXL.aspx#tab3 Improved Performance Average 1.0C better thermal performance than the Award Winning Apogee HD Low To Moderate Flow Restriction 10% less flow restriction than the Apogee HD Processor Compatibility Socket 1155 (configured by default) Socket 2011 (additional hardware included) AMD Desktop processors: sockets 754, 939, 940, AM2/+, AM3/+, F, FM1, FM2 (additional hardware included) Optional: back-plate for legacy Socket 775 and 1366 Fittings compatibility: All G1/4 fittings Dimensions: Base Plate: 60x60mm Waterblock Net Weight: 8.4 ounces (238 grams) Price = $64.95US Dollars - http://www.swiftech.com/ApogeeXL.aspx#tab3
The Swiftech Apogee XL comes in a beautiful shiny black box with the swiftech logo on the top left corner and on the front there is a white sticker with specifications. It comes sealed with a round plastic clear sealed taped to the box for your piece of mind. The packaging is flawless with a lot of black packaging material to safeguard your brand new water-block. Once you have broken the seal and opened the box you will find first the instructions to install the water-block: Under the instructions then you will find the 3 colors inter-changeable plates , the blue one is already installed. Under a black plastic foam packing material top you will find the safely protected , wrapped in protective plastic Swiftech Apogee XL CPU Water-Block. Under the Water-Block you will find the mounting hardware and a syringe with Swiftech Tim-Mate grease.
Everything that comes inside the box. Installation and Testing Methodology: http://www.swiftech.org/Installation_guides/APOGEE XL installation_web.pdf The Swiftech Apogee XL comes with pre-assembled mounting hardware for Intel LGA 1150-1155. There is mounting hardware included for Intel LGA 2011 spring loaded screws , multi-Plattform hold down for AMD cpus , sockets 754 ,939 ,940 ,AM2/+ AM3/+ .F . FM1 , FM2. I will focus on mounting hardware LGA 1150/1155 as that is what I will use for the review. Steps to install: 1. Unscrew the back-plate off the water-block. 2. Peel off the clear plastic protective square out of the water-block bottom. 3. Apply Thermal grease to the cpu , use your prefer method here. I use the small pea size on the center method as that is what works for me. For your convenience excellent Tim-Mate thermal grease is included. 4. Peel off the protective tape part off the four little cushion pads on the back-plate 5. Align the back-plate correctly following the instructions and warnings , make sure all four screws are well positioned , correctly aligned and all the way thru the socket mounting holes. 6. Carefully mount the water-block , make sure is aligned properly with the mounting screws. 7. Tight the four screws in a cross pattern little by little using a screwdriver until all the screws are tight and cannot go anymore , do not use brute force , be gentle and use good judgment. 8. Connect the 3 pin electrical connector to any 3 pin fan connector on the motherboard. 9. Now is the time for you to decide wish color you want to display on your water-block. For color screen replacement unscrew the 4 tiny screws of the front plate , replace the color filter to the one of your choice , re-mount the front plate and tight the four tiny screws back. 10. Voila you are done. You can connect the Swiftech Apogee XL CPU Water-Block to your water-cooling loop Testing Methodology/Hardware Used And Settings: I'm using Prime95 small fft to load all the 4 cores HT On of my Intel Core i7 4770K for 30 minutes. Real temp will be the program of choice to measure the temperatures while on load for max/min/average numbers. Testing is done in a control environment of ~ 18c using a K-Type probe with my calibrated digital thermometer for accuracy of ambient temperature readings , the probe is placed 3 inches away from the Helix fans mounted in a push configuration on the radiator. Stock Speeds and voltages of the 4770K will be used and log 15 minutes idle , 30 minutes Prime95 small fft , idle 15 minutes. I will overclock the cpu to maximum 24/7 stable overclock of 4.4Ghz repeating the same testing as stock speeds and voltages , i will give it a try at maximum Mhz for CPU-Z validation purposes at the end and finalizing the testing portion. Hardware Used And Settings: Asus Maximus VI Extreme Z87 Intel Core i7 4770K cpu G.Skill 2x4GB DDR3 2000 Cas9 Sapphire R7-240 1GB eVGA Supernova G2 1300w Power Supply Unit Water-Cooling Single Loop: Swiftech Apogee XL Swiftech MCP 655 Swiftech MCR-H220 Radiator Swiftech Lok-Seal Compression Fittings 3/8'' x 5/8'' Black Swiftech MCRES-Micro Rev 2 Swiftech Helix 120 PWM , 2x120x25mm Fans Black 5/8OD tubing Distilled Water Only Thermal Grease/TIM Used On The GPU Was The One Included , Swiftech Tim-Mate.
Performance Data: 4770K Stock Clocks 3.9Ghz 1.056v idle / 1.175v load. Prime95 Version 285 W7 x64bit small fft 30 minutes long test. Iddle Temperatures 15 minutes before starting prime95 small fft test = Load Temperatures after 30 minutes prime95 small fft test = Iddle Temperatures 15 minutes after finishing prime95 small fft test = 4770K Overclock at 4.4Ghz 1.248v idle / 1.270v load. Prime95 Version 285 W7 x64bit small fft 30 minutes long test. Iddle Temperatures 15 minutes before starting prime95 small fft test = Load Temperatures after 30 minutes prime95 small fft test = Iddle Temperatures 15 minutes after finishing prime95 small fft test = Maximum Mhz for CPU-Z validation purposes http://valid.canardpc.com/krmdh2 Conclusion And Reviewer Opinion: After a couple of weeks non-stop testing the Swiftech Apogee XL I can safely say this water-block makes a great addition to anyone into high end water-cooling hardware. Cooling an average off the shelf 4770K CPU the Swiftech Apogee XL showed the capabilities of a great water-block , cooling the very Very Hot running haswell cpu as I expected. With the performance to back it up , the modern looks , competitive pricing , easy of use I can honestly recommend it. You will be more than please to have this water-block on your own loop cooling any cpu you trow at it. In my opinion , the Haswell 4770K is a Hot furnace when it comes to heat. After 1.25v and/or 4.4~4.6Ghz you will enter the danger zone on most average cpus , wish makes it very hard to cool , in addition when running Prime95 Small fft for 30 minutes the heat load is incredible off the charts. The Swiftech Apogee XL can hold its own ground when cooling the hottest cpu I have ever tested , the Haswell CPU. Overclocker approved :up: .
It's nice to see that there was still some room for improvement. Decreasing both temperature difference and restriction is not an easy task. At $65 it looks pretty interesting. When we add the rest of the money required to build whole loop, it's not so pretty anymore, but I think it makes more sense than big chunk of all-in-one liquid coolers.
Any reason why one of the cores (core 4) seems to be quiet a bit hotter than the other ones, in the load tests it seems to be a good 8degree over the others? My I5 750 under prime 95 load is usually within a degree or two across all the cores that's using an EK Supreme CPU cooler. Anyone know if it's something to do with the CPU design or the cooler itself?
The way TIM is applied is critical. Any minimal debris or air bubble may make a world of difference. That includes the TIM layer between CPU and IHS. I'm not saying that it has to be the reason in this particular case, just stating a likely cause.
Uh no, I wasn't asking why my CPU is running one core hotter than the others, dunno if you mis understood? My CPU is running fine, that's what I was saying the Prime 95 load test results posted by Chipsy all seem to show that his Core 4 is running a good deal hotter than the rest of the CPU whilst under load. I was wondering if he had noticed and or done anything to investigate it.
Thank you guys for the feedback :thumbup:, you guys are awesome ! appreciate it. @ Hi The Laughing Ma I will be glad to answer that question for you , it is the behavior of this cpu exclusively and has always been like that , core 4 always runs way hotter than my other 3 cores , bare in mind that what you are reading are the peak maximum temperatures reached by each core while running prime95 small fft test over a 30 minutes time lapse. Prime95 small fft is brutal for any cpu , it will heat up those 4 cores to the maximum. For a better understanding of the cooling performance is always a good idea to focus on the average temperatures and not the maximum , because in reality no one will run prime95 small fft at 100% load all day , so in normal use like gaming or 24/7 usage the temperatures will be much more cooler. I hope I answered your question completely if not feel free to ask away , I will gladly answer any question.
Thanks again - for the review and update. Would you recommend this block for a water-cooling newbie's first rig? Is it much trouble to get all the stuff going?
Hi there Ven0m , yes I do recommend the Swiftech Apogee XL for the guys who are new to water-cooling due to the easy of use , installation , price and performance . It is a learning experience to go the way of full custom made water-cooling loop , is not that hard in reality. There is a great tread here in the forum to help you out , is called " Water Cooling - Buyers Guide" - http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=214104 , you can post any questions there and I or any of the knowledgeable guys from the forum will gladly help. Kind Regards: Angelo
