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Swiftech's H240-X Liquid Cooler Also Patent-Troll Proof

By - Source: Swiftech | B 17 comments

Swiftech has built a 280 mm customizable all-in-one water cooler.

Back when Swiftech was selling the H220 liquid cooler in the US, it almost faced litigation. In order to avoid that, the company simply took the cooler off the US market and came up with something else – the H220-X.

The H220-X featured such a radically different design that it couldn't possibly attract any legal attention (Swiftech may have been trying to make a point there), but it only came in a 240 mm variant. Now, the company is introducing its H240-X, which follows the same design but is a little bigger, featuring the popular 280 mm size.

The radiator on the unit has a rather odd configuration, as it also houses the pump and reservoir. The water block is Swiftech's new Apogee XL block, which has built-in LEDs and comes with four interchangeable color plates. The reservoir is also LED lit. Air is pushed through the unit by two 140 mm Helix 140 fans which spin at up to 1800 RPM, are PWM controlled, push up to 90 CFM and make up to 28.8 dBA of noise while maintaining a static pressure of 2.29 mm.

The MCP30 pump is also PWM controlled, nominally draws about 6 W and can spin at speeds between 300 and 1200 RPM. Both the pump and the fans are rated at an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) of 60,000 hours.

All things considered, aside from some compatibility issues in certain cases, this may be the best all-in-one water cooler that money can buy. It will certainly outperform most other closed-loop liquid coolers, and once you've reached a point where you want to expand your loop, you can.

Swiftech claims that the unit is maintenance-free for a three-year period, but you can always open up the loop to add more radiators and one or more water blocks for graphics cards. Included with the unit is an 8-way PWM splitter, which can take a single PWM signal from your motherboard and send it to eight PWM compatible fans.

The Swiftech H240-X is available immediately for $149.99 and comes with a three year warranty.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

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  • -1 Hide
    universal remonster , October 2, 2014 4:52 PM
    Asstek's patent lawyer: "oops.."
  • 3 Hide
    fuzzion , October 2, 2014 6:56 PM
    Society is in a mess when scientist are more afraid of Lawyers than progress.
  • 3 Hide
    Christopher1 , October 2, 2014 8:22 PM
    Quote:
    Society is in a mess when scientist are more afraid of Lawyers than progress.

    No scientist fears progress. They do fear science debunking their PoV on a subject, but the best simply take it as "Well, I got that wrong... let's try on this subject!"
  • Add your comment Display all 17 comments.
  • -1 Hide
    zombiejon , October 2, 2014 8:56 PM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Society is in a mess when scientist are more afraid of Lawyers than progress.

    No scientist fears progress. They do fear science debunking their PoV on a subject, but the best simply take it as "Well, I got that wrong... let's try on this subject!"

    Another thing a scientist fears - someone else publishing the data first.
  • 1 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 2, 2014 10:47 PM
    Too bad they'll be no 340 (420 mm Rad)
  • 0 Hide
    HKILLER , October 3, 2014 7:11 AM
    $150....a bit expensive don't you think?compared to $80-$100 Corsair H110i and Cooler Master Nepton 280L...
  • 1 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 3, 2014 7:24 AM
    No, not at all..... the 100i's are $100 on newegg and are usually bought with a pair of quieter fans costing $30

    1. The 100i and its ilk are made of a copper cold plate and aluminum Rads ..... extremely bad design. Her's what happens wwhen copper and aluminum are mixes in the same loop.

    http://martinsliquidlab.org/2012/01/24/corrosion-explored/

    2. The 100i gets close to 70 dba .... the Swiftech is 1/6 as loud. The H240-X is 4 dbA quieter than the 220



    3. The Swiftech H220-X is 7C cooler under load. The H240-X is 9C cooler

    4. The Swiftechs kits are simple an assemblage of time proven custom water cooling loop parts that somebody has pre-assembled for you.

    5. The Swiftech's loop can be opened up and you can add GFX card blocks, MoBo Blocks, RAM Blocks ..... no other AIO does that. How much is the 2nd pump and accessories gonna cost you when you cool your GFX card.

    6. The Swiftechs have a reservoirs and visual coolant level indicator.

    7. The Swiftech is the ONLY AIO to beat the top air coolers in temps, but at louder noise levels. VERY INTERESTING that at the same noise levels, nothing really beats top air coolers. The Swiftech wins by 2C but needs 2 dbA more to do it.



    The H240-X looks like it will give the Cryorig a run for its money.




  • 0 Hide
    Lutfij , October 3, 2014 3:30 PM
    JNPE, You should also add
    8| thanks to the pump you can add a tonne load of watercooling hardware (rads and blocks) and maintain very good thermals that air cooling alone doesn't give. True prices go up but when you look at it from a performance standpoint, temps drop on the GPU side can be seen to drop to about 40'C.

    This would indeed be a true watercooling loop that can be opened up and expanded upon without voiding warranty.

    9| also comes bundled with Swiftech's awesome 8 way PWM splitter which is really handy to have in tight quartered cases and not require a 5.25" front panel fan controller.
  • 0 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 3, 2014 3:34 PM
    Those certainly are factors one might consider but ....

    8) is same as 5) ... couldn't do 5 if pump wasn't strong enough but worth pointing out.

    9) Z97 boards have plenty of PWM headers so it's kinda redundant on those. But aslo I'd rather use 3 pin fans with Phanteks PCB as it provides all the advantages of PWM and none of the downsides......no PWM clicking / hum at low speeds, no $5 premium per fan.
  • 0 Hide
    Lutfij , October 3, 2014 3:54 PM
    Alot of people complained about the 4 pin fan headers on the mobo's and I've read how devoid they were in terms of control via software.

    JJ on his product videos for Z97 boards were probably whitewashed with the multi fan splitter cable where the true point was the CPU fan header was the only true PWM header on the entire board until Z87...thus why I brought it up. Most people would recycle older hardware and thus the cheap fan splitter can be a good offering.

    Though the only PWM fans capable of watercooling would have to be the E-loop fans by NB and they aren't a $5 premium...and Swiftech Helix's are the only closest thing to Scythe's GT AP15's.
  • 1 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 3, 2014 4:44 PM
    In Z87 the CPU headers are the only PWM headers on the boards, the rest are DC voltage....in Z97 every header is PWM. Corsair PWM fans are useless in a WC build with any kind of splitter....they won't spin down w/ more than 3 or 4 on same channel. I use Phanteks $10 Sp140Sps.... outperform any of Gentle Typhoons, Noctuas and NB's

    http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1345-page7.html

    The Top 12

    Phanteks PH-F140HP/TS
    Noctua NF-A14 FLX
    Noctua NF-A15 PWM
    Noiseblocker B12-2
    Noctua NF-P14 FLX
    Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120-12
    Noiseblocker M12-S1
    Corsair AF120 Quiet
    Corsair AF120 Performance
    Thermalright TR-TY150
    Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120-14
    Xigmatek XAF-F1453

    I am controlling 15 fans on three separate channels using 3 Phanteks PCBs .... all controlled by FanXpert2 using 3 different curves.

  • 0 Hide
    Lutfij , October 3, 2014 5:01 PM
    Thanks for the link Jack, will need to spend some time in comparing data :) 
  • 0 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 3, 2014 5:11 PM
    BTW, with those 15 fans running, the PC is dead silent .... here's some reviews.

    http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/cooling/heatsinks/37419-phanteks-f140?showall=&start=3

    http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/phenteks_f140/3.htm

  • 0 Hide
    HKILLER , October 4, 2014 4:08 PM
    actually i wouldn't mind buying a Swiftech h320 but availability across USA is a big problem...you can buy em from UK or Canada though...and i say it's expensive cuz their Swiftech H320 is available on NCIXUS for 150 USD...
  • 0 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 4, 2014 4:39 PM
    Asetek pulled the patent troll act .... but that hasn't stopped their availability. You can buy them in US..... but there will be no H320-X

    http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g/c321/s818/list/p1/b33/Swiftech-Water_Cooling_Kits_-_Brands-Swiftech_Water_Cooling_Kits-Page1.html

  • 0 Hide
    Phreedom1 , October 5, 2014 8:12 PM
    Damn it! I just bought the H220-X last week...it was delivered 2 days ago. I ordered it from the Swiftech site and there was nothing on their site about the new H240 at that time. I even called Swiftech before hand to make sure they had stock and it would have been nice for them to say, "hey...we have the H240-X coming out in a few days would you like that instead and give us a bit more $?"

    Grrrrrr
  • 0 Hide
    JackNaylorPE , October 5, 2014 9:39 PM
    Yes, I only knew it was coming by reading the forums.
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