An entry-level SVO kit versus a Hi-End air cooler: which is better?

We are often criticized for testing mass-produced liquid cooling systems, which, for the most part, turn out to be less efficient and even more expensive than air coolers. At the same time, one of the arguments in such a completely fair, I must say, criticism is the availability on the market of ready-made kits for self-assembly and organization of liquid cooling of system unit components. Until today, we have not been able to test at least one of these kits for “enthusiasts with hands”, so to fill this gap, we asked for tests immediately three multicomponent “constructors” from two different manufacturers for assembling the CBO, with one of which you today we will introduce you.

Company Swiftech, founded back in 1994, is rightfully one of the trendsetters among liquid cooling systems. Since 1999, the company has been producing products aimed at computer enthusiasts and gamers. So, at that time, Peltier modules, combined cooling systems, and after a while the first liquid cooling systems appeared for the first time in the Swiftech range. To date, the range of products manufactured by the company is huge. In addition to ready-made kits for overclockers, Swiftech offers an absolutely comprehensive range of components for self-selection and organization of liquid cooling of almost any component inside the system unit, and immediately in several variations and price segments. Simply put, a true paradise for the “dropsy”.

The first was provided to us for testing SVO
Swiftech H₂O-220 Compact
review and testing of which we present to your attention today.

• packaging and equipment

Liquid cooling system H₂The Swiftech O-220 Compact comes in a relatively small cardboard box, which is mostly black:

The front and back sides of the package contain all comprehensive information about the product, including photographs of its main components:

It is also indicated that the CBO was developed in the United States, but produced in China.

Inside the cardboard box there is a foam box, divided into many large and not very large compartments, which contain the main components and accessories of the Swiftech H delivery set.₂O-220 Compact:

Each of the components is securely fixed in place, so when shipping the box, the risk of damage to anything is minimal. On the reverse side, two flexible hoses are glued, and a plastic funnel is inserted in the center.

The accessories in the package are as follows:

I will list them from left to right and from top to bottom:

• replaceable “pallet” for the pump unit and water block;
• two plastic fittings;
• thermal paste;
• four plastic clamps;
• adapter cable for connecting fans from 5 volts;
• two adapters for powering fans from 7 volts;
• set of screws for fastening fans;
• a strap for the rear wall of the case;
• a set of screws, washers and plastic bushings for attaching the radiator to the rear wall of the case;
• a set of additional fittings and clamps;
• plastic frame for fastening the radiator block;
• grill grill for one fan.

In addition, a small bottle of poisonous green coolant concentrate is included in the delivery set:

The anticorrosive concentrate with a volume of about 56 ml is referred to as “Hydrx” and its main filler is ethylene glycol with an anticorrosive additive. It is strictly not recommended to consume it internally. The declared service life of the refrigerant obtained from a mixture of concentrate with distilled water is 5 years.

In addition to the above, the delivery set includes instructions for assembling and installing the system in several languages, as well as a couple of reminders on the correct refrigerant charge:

Not shown in the photo with the accessories are two black rubber hoses with Coolsleaves, which prevents possible kinks, and also the small plastic funnel for filling the coolant is not photographed. But these are all little things.

• features of the main components

Consider now the main components of Swiftech H₂O-220 Compact separately. The first in line is the largest component – the cooling system radiator:

Its dimensions are 301 x 125 x 30.8 mm. Other dimensions are shown in the attached diagram:

The most important thing is that the heatsink is made of copper, which means it should be more effective than anything that we tested earlier. The official description for the radiator indicates that its design is optimized for the use of two quiet 120 mm fans, which can be installed on either side of the radiator, or even equip the radiator with four fans at once.

In the lower part of the radiator there are two threaded holes for fittings, and in the upper part there is a radiator neck for filling the coolant:

Next, we have a water block combined with a pump – Apogee Drive 350:

A very compact cooling unit consists of a copper water block and a pump with two branch pipes coming out of it, carefully closed with orange caps:

The ceramic pump bearing provides a 50,000 hour warranty. The pump capacity is declared at 300 liters per hour. By default, the waterblock is assembled for installation on motherboards with an LGA 775 connector and an appropriate backplate:

If a water block with a pump is installed on motherboards for K8 processors, the lower part of the water block will have to be replaced with another one included in the delivery set. To do this, it will be necessary to unscrew the copper base of the water block, and then the removable plastic lower part of the block:

With the help of our liquid cooling guru – overclocker eastSiR, through the hole in the base of the pump, it was determined that in the Swiftech H₂The O-220 Compact uses a high quality pump Laing DDC 3.1 of the new revision with reduced voltage.

The copper base itself is quite standard for the Apogee GT series – its structure consists of many small diamond-shaped pins:

The surface of the base of the water block, in contact with the processor heat spreader, is processed quite tolerably, although it is still far from polishing here:

The most important thing is that there are no complaints about its evenness, since a standard check on the print of thermal paste on the glass made it possible to verify the uniformity of the print.

The pump and water block are connected with two connectors: one for monitoring the pump rotor speed, and the other for its power supply, and connects to the usual Molex power supply connector:

Water blocks for the video card and for the motherboard chipset in the Swiftech H package₂O-220 Compact not included. However, they can be purchased separately, and all additional clamps and fittings for their connection are already included in the kit (including splitters for SLI configurations).

Further in the kit you can find a pair of seven-blade 120mm fans:

The fans are based on sleeve bearings, and they are all produced in the same China:

The maximum fan speed is 2200 rpm with a total noise level of 39 dBA and an air flow of 81.3 CFM. But, as you remember, the Swiftech H₂O-220 Compact comes with two pairs of adapters for connecting 7 Volt or even 5 Volt fans with a corresponding reduction in the noise level.

Here, perhaps, is the whole brief description of the main components of the Swiftech liquid cooling system. Now let’s move on to the build and installation process, which, as it turned out, is not that difficult.