Swiftech H220, worth it?

Venumi

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Mar 16, 2014
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Got a couple of questions;

First - Should I buy the Swiftech H220? I have been reading a lot of negative posts about the pump breaking etc. Anyone got some actual facts?

And the second question - If the Swiftech is good and I buy it, will it have enough juice to cool the CPU and possibly a 780 Poseidon with hybrid cooling?

If it's a "No." to both questions, can you suggest me some similar AIO coolers? Much appreciated!
 

deviantstyles

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Mar 6, 2013
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Linus did a benchmark pitting the H220 against other popular AIO coolers and it performed the best out of all of them.
Video Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVNuN0UcYUQ

I haven't heard about the pump breaking but I have heard minor complaints about the motor being kind of loud.

In my build, I have a Swiftech H320 which is the same block and motor as the H220 except it has a longer radiator. So far I like it alot and it keeps my CPU very cool and I can't hear the pump motor.

The motor should be strong enough to expand to support a bigger loop with a graphics card. If you're worried about it breaking, check up on Swiftech's warranty and see if the covered timeframe seems long enough.

I would say go for it, the H220 is a great cooler.
 

Lovolt

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Aug 16, 2006
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I have to say that I was "all in" on the Swiftech H220 shortly after it was released in 2013. I was able to get one of the early shipments and at first the AIO kit ran great. It was not super quiet, but well within my tolerance levels (fans were only about 4 feet from my ears). In this configuration, I couldn't hear the motor at all.

However, the motor on the first kit died after about 4-8 weeks. The fans kept running and so the only way I knew what happened was that I received a CPU fan at 0 RPM message from my ASUS Sabertooth motherboard (motor and fans each plugged into separate fan header). I had it replaced by Swiftech - their RMA process was simple, fast and efficient. However, I was a bit tentative with stressing my system after that (i.e., no running Folding @ Home or other CPU intensive programs) while I wasn't around or sleeping. The motor on the second H220 died about two weeks ago after 10 or so months of daily use (mixture of light to heavy use, but not 24-7).

I have to say that I replaced the H220 with a Noctua NH-D14 as I don't move my rig very much and I wanted something that would continue working even if one fan died (and at least some heat dissipation if both fans died at the same time). I get about the same amount of cooling (within 3-4 degrees C) with a lot less noise. Once again, on my previous setup, there was nothing between me and the H220 fans (mounted at top of case), but there's not much more between me and the NH-D14 either - only about 4-5 more inches of distance (Antec P280 case).