Over this past weekend I upgraded my Swiftech pin waterblock to an Apogee waterblock, intial results left me unimpressed but I chalked it up to the AS5 needing some time to settle. Well, as the weekend passed and doing some serious gaming for burn-in, I can say that the Apogee block is an improvement over the old Swiftie. My CPU is an X2 3800 that was OC'd to 2650MHz at 1.55v, after playing with the Apogee for the weekend, I was able to lower my voltage to 1.5125 with the same overclock completely stable. So, as a greedy overclocker (aren't we all?), I decided to see what I could get out my CPU at the same 1.55v, so far I've got it stable to 2690MHz and I think 2700MHz is possible. Sure its not a huge gain, but considering I'm at the limits of what my CPU will do, a 40-50MHz overclock on a new waterblock isn't too bad to me. This CPU has done 2700MHz on the old Swiftie waterblock but required 1.65v to keep it stable so I know I'm reaching its limit. The fact that I'm at 2690MHz at 1.55v instead of 1.65v is a big accomplishment to me. If I can squeeze 2700Mhz out of it at 1.55v, I will leave it alone and feel very satisfied with my purchase.
Just thought I'd share for those considering an Apogee. And BTW, yes my Apogee had a few small copper shards in it also from the machining. I was very careful to use a toothpick to get them out of the block. They may have never caused a problem since they were still attached pretty good, but I got them out anyway for safety's sake. As for the quality of the base, it was perfect, not a flaw in it.
Just thought I'd share for those considering an Apogee. And BTW, yes my Apogee had a few small copper shards in it also from the machining. I was very careful to use a toothpick to get them out of the block. They may have never caused a problem since they were still attached pretty good, but I got them out anyway for safety's sake. As for the quality of the base, it was perfect, not a flaw in it.
