Swiftech H20-120 Premium W/C kit VS air cooling

I'm looking for a good w/c kit that I don't need to put much effort into building and maintaining.

I saw this one and the price looked right.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=20941&vpn=H20-120-PREMIUM&manufacture=Swiftech

How does this compare to the other top of the line CPU coolers?
Rig in Sig. I plan on running my processor at around 1.5 vcore.

It will do good. Down the road you can mod the pump and add another fan on the radiator to make it even better.

Is this kit fully upgradeable? If I wanted to change the rad, block, add stuff, etc. can I? What other kits would you recommend, if you can't recommend a kit, which parts make a good system? (Shopping from here: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=1165)

Do you think I will have sub50c temperatures at 1.5v? Right now using my Tower 112 my temps are:
47c, and 39c load (core 1 core 2). Note that my ambient is fairly low.

Thanks for the help guys.

If you are going to go water, then get the good one:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=20942&vpn=H20-220-APEX-Ultra&manufacture=Swiftech

It is pretty easy to install and works great, my conroe e6600 1.4v @ 3.5 is reporting 30c full load.

orion456 said:

If you are going to go water, then get the good one:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=20942&vpn=H20-220-APEX-Ultra&manufacture=Swiftech

It is pretty easy to install and works great, my conroe e6600 1.4v @ 3.5 is reporting 30c full load.

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I second that.......I'm running that kit myself and it was easy to install and works great!

Thanks guys. How is the maintenance on these things? Often do I need to drain it and refill it?

maintenance is.....hrm...it's really up to you. Some people drain and refill their loop every couple months. I'd have a spare rig to surf net/chat, etc... Water does have its downtimes. As far as kit goes, check out petra's tech shop and get one of his kits. They're great.

Maintenance like said above all up to you and how well you put it together. If you use the right corrosion and biokillers it will last for some time with little to no effort aside from adding water occasionally.

As far as upgrading, you can do it yourself and mod the pump by putting the barb on the top (search the forum for a how to) or just buy the top and screw it on. To put another fan on the rad you simply screw it on. I cant say how good the fan it comes with stock is but a good Panaflo cant hurt.

As long as you seat the cpu block well then your temps are going to improve. If you want the bigger rad then go with the kit posted above but the single rad will do fine. The only minor problem I see with the smaller kit is that it uses 3/8" ID tubing while the bigger rad kit uses 1/2". The problem with both kits in my opinion is the mounting style. When you mount the radiator on the back of the case you are blowing warmer air from inside the case on the radiator but if you mount the rad on the front of the case you are blowing room temperature air which is generally cooler on the radiator.

Swiftech makes some of the best w/c parts on the market so either way you will get good results. Just make sure you plan the mounting out well and test it completely for leaks before putting the loop to use. I don't see any hose clamps in the pics so make sure to get some. Metal worm clamps work best but even a zip tie on each connection is better than nothing.

I have the same setup you mentioned initaly. The Swiftech H20-120 Premium. I added a Swiftech GPU block. It works good for me. I didn't upgrade the pump but I did replace the single 120mm fan sized radiator with their dual 120mm fan rad and run twp Panaflo H 120mm fans. It works great! I can get temps of my CPU consistently ~15C above abmient with two Panaflo H's at 7V. Temps are of course lower if I run the fans at 12V. I run my CPU at 1.45 V.

It's a good kit to start with. Just remember that the higher heat load you have in your system (ie GPU, CPU, big pump) the bigger radiator/more fans are needed. I stayed with the stock pump because it puts out good flow but adds less heat that the larger one does. I have the rad mounted in the front of my case drawing in cold air. This does warm the case air but works fine for my setup.

I change the fluid out once a year usually.

Just FYI, here's a link to the 2x120mm Swiftech Apex kit
http://www.jab-tech.com/Swiftech-Apex-Ultra-H20-220-pr-3198.html

It's just $3 CAD more and they do ship to Canada. But it too is currently out of stock, as the NCIX kit is. But this might be worth checking into as it's a better kit for about the same price. (BTW It's about $217 cad)

I'm torn between the Premium and the Apex. On one hand, the cheap side of me says "Just buy the Premium, it will do you fine" but the evil side me (the one that likes to spend all my money) says "You know you want those low temperatures...".

I'm only going to be cooling my processor. I'm happy with Air cooling on my GPU. I will most likely be upgrading the rad and putting 120mm Ultra high Speed Panaflos on there.

Now, Wannaoc mentioned the tubing sizes. Does it make a big difference?

For a difference of $3 you are getting a better kit. You get a 2x120mm RAD with pretty decent Delta fans. 1/2 tubing, MCP655 pump. yadda yadda...just seems like a much better purchase with only $3 being the difference.

jivetrky said:

For a difference of $3 you are getting a better kit. You get a 2x120mm RAD with pretty decent Delta fans. 1/2 tubing, MCP655 pump. yadda yadda...just seems like a much better purchase with only $3 being the difference.

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Your post confused me at first but I looked back and took another look at your link.

If it ever comes back in stock I'm going to buy it. Now to find a nice case to modify.

I was reading reviews of the H20-120 and I have some questions.

What is the point of the rad box? Can't you just attach the fan straight to the case?

And if anyone is feeling generous or has alot of free time, they could try and make up a configuration of w/c parts that would beat the H20-120 or be around the same level for around the same price. CPU only by the way: I'm looking for a sub 200 dollar w/c setup that will beat air.

Use this site, or a website that ships to Canada.
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?majorcatid=100&minorcatid=1165

Thank you so much dudes.

Getting a watercooling setup just for a cpu and keeping a higher end card on air doesn't make sense to me. GPUs often see the the greater benefit on water than CPUs even do. Having said that, a dual rad really is a better solution. You will find that if you get a good water on the CPU, you will almost certainly want to put your GPU on it also.

The rad box is only if you want to mount a rad on the back of a case. You can put a rad in the bottom, front, top, or attached to the rear somehow as long as you have airflow for the rad. Its just that putting the rad front, top, or bottom is going to require cutting fans holes whereas a rear mount using a radbox isn't.

Ah. I see, thanks.

The reason why I only want to watercool my cpu is because 90% of the time I overclock my processor and not my GPU.

Don't just think about the cooling aspect for the video card. Think of it as insurance. With how hot cards run, if that fan dies on it, it'll be toasty VERY quickly. With watercooling, if your pump dies, it'll take a lot longer for it to overheat. If the fan dies on the rad, your temps will go up, but it won't get horribly hot for a while.

That's how I look at it, anyway. The cooling is great, but the added insurance against a heat related failure is nice to have.

Vaio said:

Don't just think about the cooling aspect for the video card. Think of it as insurance. With how hot cards run, if that fan dies on it, it'll be toasty VERY quickly. With watercooling, if your pump dies, it'll take a lot longer for it to overheat. If the fan dies on the rad, your temps will go up, but it won't get horribly hot for a while.

That's how I look at it, anyway. The cooling is great, but the added insurance against a heat related failure is nice to have.

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Interesting point. I know my CPU has a power cutback/shut off if it gets to hot. I am not sure though if the GPU does the same. You make a good argument for watercooling none the less.

Also you can plug the pump "RPM" signal line into the CPU fan header for RPM monitoring. Most mobos can be shut off if the CPU fan stops so if the pump stops it will shut down too. I had this happen after I cracked my 120mm fam rad and all the water leaked out. Luckily into the bottom of my case where it is ventilated to actually ran onto my desk. All my components were fine because without water teh pump shut down so my system shutdown too. I craked the rad using the wrong screws on the fans. operator error there.

The only minor problem I see with the smaller kit is that it uses 3/8" ID tubing while the bigger rad kit uses 1/2"

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Say I bought the H20-120 premium kit and then I bought the Black Ice Xtreme II for 2 120mm fans that uses 1/2 barbs. If the H20/120 uses 3/8" tubing, how do I use this rad?

Also, what is the difference between these three radiators:
HW Labs Black Ice Xtreme II Dual 120MM Fan Water Cooling Radiator 1/2IN Barbs
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19725&vpn=DHWLX2&manufacture=Hardware Labs
HW Labs Black Ice GT Xtreme 240 Dual 120MM Water Cooling Radiator Black 1/2IN Barbs
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=21460&vpn=RAD-3420&manufacture=Hardware Labs
HW Labs Black Ice GT Stealth 240 Dual 120MM Water Cooling Radiator Black 1/2IN Barbs
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19761&vpn=DHGT2&manufacture=Hardware Labs

and would the MCP350 12v pump be strong enough to accomadate this bigger rad?
My plans are to build a watercooling system in a P180 case similar to this one:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=262&products_id=4269

Several thoughts.

A dual radiator makes more sense if, or when, you choose to cool more things.

My 7600GS has temperaure based throttling.

The radbox makes it makes it easier to to attach to the back of your case.

Petras tech shop has some nice kits. None can beat the price at jab-tech for the Swiftech 220. They might price match?

I looked into getting a WC setup a while ago. Chose not to do so as quiet was more important than cooling. Running a Nexus 92mm CPU fan with a 120MM Yate Loon rear exhaust. Can't hear anything. CPU is at 25C as I write this.