Swiftech H2O 120 Compact

One compact you won’t find in a handbag

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The kit is supplied in a glossy black cardboard box, which is jam-packed full of information, slogans and diagrams to persuade you to take it off the shelf.

The key points to mention are the mounting options allowing the kit to sit on top of any processor that can go into a LGA775 socket, and 754, 939, 940, AM2 and F on the AMD side. With such compatibility it’s unlikely that you’ll have a computer that’ll need this level of cooling that doesn’t accept the kit.

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Once you’ve opened the box, you can sift through the bits and pieces which include all the screws, bolts and washers needed to connect the block to your CPU, the piping with anti-kink Smartcoils (allowing for much tighter bends in the tubing), the water block and pump combination with Intel or AMD bracket, a funnel for pouring in the liquid, a bottle of Hydrx anti-fungal, anti-corrosion coolant, a fan, and finally the radiator and reservoir combination.

Most watercooling kits require you to use three main components; the pump, the water block and the radiator. Some also have a separate reservoir although this is often combined with the pump. What Swiftech have done is to simplify the whole experience of using water to cool your components; instead of having three or even four different parts to the cooling loop, there are only two. With less items to connect, there are obviously less connection points which are the most likely place for a leak to occur.

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They have done this by combining firstly the pump with the water block itself, this will also reduce the amount of space needed by the kit to be installed. The pump is derived from the MCP350 pump which sits on top of the water block itself, while the interface plate has the same copper Diamond Pin Matrix as the Apogee GT block which has already proven itself in the cooling market. Looking at the waterblock, the pump is far from large and the whole combined device is much smaller than an Intel or AMD stock cooler. It manages to pump a head pressure of 3m, which means that you technically could have the pump and radiator 3m away vertically. In the real world, this head pressure is more useful when you are using several different components in one loop, e.g. GPU block, RAM, chipset, CPU etc. Each components and subsequent waterblock acts as a resistive force on the pump, requiring it to work harder. Once the resistance hits a certain amount, the flow rate begins to suffer by such a degree that the kit can no longer cool the connected components. While this could happen, it’s much more likely that the radiator won’t be enough to remove all of the heat that is being put into the loop. The Apogee Drive pump/waterblock combo should have enough juice to allow at least two other waterblocks to be installed (GPU and chipset) if you have the parts (which you can get direct from Swiftech if you need them). The pump can spit out up to 300 LPH which seems pretty mammoth for something so small.

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The bottom of the waterblock gives you a view of the copper pad that makes up the single-piece Diamond Pin Matrix which water flows past. It’s nice and shiny, but more importantly, Swiftech have manufactured it nice and smooth, removing the need to lap the kit.

The pump is powered by a non-passthru molex plug meaning you’ll lose a connector. The other wire out of the pump is a PWM wire that tells you motherboard that you do indeed have a cooler attached. It also allows you to see if the pump is actually operating and gives your mobo the chance to alert you if it fails for whatever reason. The fan on the other hand has a long wire coming from it which terminates in a standard 3 pin header. It would have been nice to see a full PWM lead with the additional control wire, but that is unnecessary for most setups. If you find that the fan is too loud you can use your motherboard to regulate the speed, or use the provided 12v to 7v lead that steps down the voltage by 5v and reduces the speed/noise from 81.3 CFM 36 dBA to 47 CFM 26 dBA.

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For tubing, Swiftech have decided on 3/8” (~9.5mm) laboratory grade Norprene tubing which have bright green plastic Smartcoils rapped round them. Norprene is a material that lends itself to the watercooling market for several reasons. For one, it is used in the food industry as it won’t taint the material that’s being passed through it, two it is naturally resistive to kinking and three it won’t perish like its rubber counterparts.

While you may be thinking that clear plastic tubing that’s used on other kits would be appropriate, they kink easily and aren’t as bendy as these tubes which allows you to create tighter bends when connecting components without drastically effecting flow. When combined with the Smartcoils – which are essentially a spring that the pipe passes through preventing the tube inside from kinking – you can get some very tight bends that make it possible to reduce the length of tubing involved; less tubing means more flow.

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The radiator is the usual affair with louvered copper fins with brass tubes and body. The coolant passes up one side through thin tubes which have plenty of copper fins between before being forced down the other side and back round the system. The bottom and the top of the rad has extra space which is filled with coolant and acts as a reservoir which – in a properly sealed setup – stops you from needing to fill the system for 5 years. The radiator is designed to be used with the provided 120mm fan and also is meant to be able to fit in the rear 120mm fan slot at the back of your case which makes this kit into a completely internal watercooling system.

The rad has the filler cap on the top edge and is easily opened with a flat-head screwdriver, or even a coin. When you come to fill the system, you get a little funnel which should stop you from pouring water all over your desk.

Both the waterblock and the rad have pre-installed barbs on them designed for the Norprene tubing. While simply forcing them around the barb would be enough to keep them in place and leak-free, Swiftech also provide you with some clips that rap around the barb and lock into place.

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If you want to be able to mount this cooler on your AMD produced chip, then you’ll need to remove the bottom mounting bracket which means that you have to deal with the seals around the pump. Once you’ve completed this little task, I would advice that you run the kit for a few hours outside of a case environment (use our power supply turning on guide here, although Swiftech advice against for legal reasons although they fully explain the process).

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The manual itself is nice and descriptive into how you go about installing and using the kit, and even shows you how you fill the system with a Betty Crocker jug. Each step is met with pictures and description, and the start paragraph even tells you what you’ll need that’s not provided with the kit, like screwdrivers and distilled water which should stop you from starting installation then realising you don’t have a crucial tool.

Coolers