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CPU Cooling: Swiftech Liquid Cooling Components

Our cooling system begins with Swiftech's H20-120 Compact kit, which includes a single 120 mm fan radiator with integrated reservoir, CPU water block with integrated pump, hardware, hoses, and a bottle of concentrated coolant additive (antifreeze).

While the kit comes preconfigured for use with LGA775 processors, AMD users will notice that its water block includes a second base for use with Socket F, 754, 939, 940, and AM2 motherboards.

Swiftech polishes its Apogee Drive 350 copper baseplate to a mirror finish. A tube of the kit's included thermal compound shows off the reflective surface.

The H20-120 was selected as the basis for our cooling configuration for two reasons. First, its integrated components, namely the Apogee Drive with water block and combination radiator/reservoir would simplify installation to reduce crowding and eliminate the need to drill holes. Second, the Apogee Drive's high-flow pump and high-dissipation base plate would allow us to build on the system without fear of exceeding its performance limits.

Of course we wouldn't settle for a single 120 mm fan radiator on a system that's designed for overclocking. Swiftech also supplied a 2 x 120 mm fan radiator with mounting hardware, two 3/8" hose barbs, four plastic hose clamps, and two 3/8" Neoprene tubing packs.

We'd also need a good way to attach the larger radiator. Fortunately, the Temjin TJ09 is designed around the concept of mounting this type of radiator where the two top-panel fans are located, and Silverstone recently released a bracket to ease this task.

Constructed of heavy gauge chrome plated steel, Silverstone's SST-RADSUPPORT09 is available from a few web stores for around $15.


Talkback
TDL 05/17/2008 5:20 AM
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TDL
Thanks for the great article - I'm having fun building this - I do have 3 questions though - the fan duct assembly fan has 3 wire sets, 1 has the 3wire motherboard connector, the second taps into a regular power lead. The third is a single wire - the case documentation does not describe that one - what is that little single lead for? Also the motherboard sound card has some connectors on it - I assume one is for the case headphone/mic lead? Third, should teflon tape be used in the dual radiator threads if not how tight is tight enough for the O-rings? Thanks great article!
Dax3000 06/25/2008 7:20 AM
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Dax3000
Hi Thanks For The Great Article - I Am Also Building A System With A Few Modifications I Loved Asus Boards But Can Never Seem To Overclock Them At All So I Am Going With A EVGA 780i FTW when they come out, THat Processor IS Sweet But No Way CAn I JUstify PAying $1060 or more here in canada for 1 Pc Component when i already own three computers, I was thinking maybe a Q6850 when they come out, i have changed the middle fan in my case already and i am just waiting on my 120 rad to get here as i already have the other parts from another computer i built that i couldn't use so that saved me a few dollars:) and i can't find that power supply anywhere so i am gonna do with a X3 1000 watt from ultra i hope it's good enough. and since i am not a really good overclocker no point in risking a high end system by messing around with 2 expensive graphics cards will 2 9800GTX+ work for me ? and omost importantly after my system is finished and filled how do i top it up if it needs more water do i have to take the top rad down to fill it everytime or can i just add water in to the same rad. thanks alot of your help and keep up the great work.

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