The H20-120 Compact comes in some snazzy, if busy, packaging. Once the components are removed, we start to get an idea of how Swiftech has managed to make a simpler water cooling system.

Most water-cooling systems have 4 separate components: a CPU cooling water block, a water pump, a radiator, and a reservoir. The H20-120 Compact has combined the water pump and CPU water block into a single component, and has also combined the radiator and reservoir into a single component. This saves a lot of space and should make setting up the system relatively simple.

Aside from the water block/pump and radiator/reservoir, there are coolant hoses, a large 120mm fan, a voltage adapter for the fan that lowers voltage from 12v to 7v if desired, some concentrated coolant that requires distilled water for dilution, a funnel, and various components for installation with any modern CPU. And, of course, there is a well-written installation manual.

We should definitely add that the H20-120 is an expandable system, which we found surprising. If the user desires more, Swiftech offers chipset and VGA water blocks in addition to other accessories that can turn the H20-120 into a fully featured water-cooling system.

Encouraged by the simplicity of components, we proceeded to install the H20-120 Compact on to our test bed.