RCHN Swiftech Product Review: Apogee HD P

RCHN Swiftech Product Review: Apogee HD





Product Description

ap.o.gee: The farthest or highest point; the apex; a final climactic stage

The Apogee™ HD is Swiftech's new flagship CPU waterblock. Close to 18 months in the making, it was designed to surpass its predecessor the Apogee™ XT in all critical areas:

•Improved thermal performance with emphasis on Intel® and AMD® latest and upcoming processors: the HD is Socket LGA2011 (Intel® and "Bulldozer" (AMD® ready.

•Reduced flow restriction compared to the Apogee XT Rev2.

•Innovative features, with the introduction of the multi-port connectivity: two more outlet ports have been added for dramatic flow rate improvements in multiple waterblock configurations and when used with the new MCRx20 Drive Rev3 radiators that now also include two additional inlet ports (3 total); read more about "Flow Parallelization" in the section below including examples and in-depth explanations.

•Improved thermal performance out of the box with the inclusion of high performance PK1 thermal compound

•Cosmetic appeal: the Apogee HD is now available in two colors, Classic black or Fashionable white to match high-end case offerings from NZXT™, Silverstone®, Thermaltake and many others.

•Reduced cost of ownership.

Improved Performance
World's best thermal performance based on our comparative testing, and 2ºC better than the Apogee™ XT Rev2.

Low To Moderate Flow Restriction
30% lower flow restriction than the Apogee™ XT Revision 2.

Exclusive Triple Outlet Port Design
Ability to parallelize the flow to the graphics, chipset and/or memory waterblocks to improve overall loop performance by dramatically increasing the flow rate where it matters most: in the radiator and CPU waterblock. This exclusive feature can be easily activated when the block is used in conjunction with the new MCRx20 Drive Rev3 radiators that now also include 3 inlet ports.

Another benefit of such setup is that it is now possible to use reduced tubing size for the devices installed in parallel without unduly taxing the pump, resulting in less clutter, and easier tube routing in cramped spaces.

Fine-tuned Retention Mechanism, with universal Desktop Processor Compatibility
Swiftech's retention mechanism is widely recognized as the simplest and safest to use. It has been further enhanced with added attention to details and quality, such as hollowed thumb screws, and improved back-plate fabrication.

•Adjustable screws provide compatibility with all Intel Desktop Processors:
?Socket 1155, 1156, and 1366 (back-plate included - socket 1155 installed by default)

?Socket 775 (not included, mailed free of charge upon request)

?Socket 2011 spring-screw kit included - requires installation

•An elegant Multi-mount hold-down plate provides compatibility with all AMD Desktop processors: sockets 754, 939, 940, AM2, AM3, 770, F, FM1, as well as legacy Intel Server socket 771 processors. The kit is not included with the Apogee HD, but supplied for free (shipping not included), upon request.

Shipped with High Performance Thermal Compound
The Apogee™ HD ships with PK1 thermal compound highly rated by enthusiast users and reviewers (and confirmed by in-house testing) for its excellent thermal performance and ease of application.

Lower Cost
More affordable than the Apogee™ XT and other top Performing Blocks on the market (the HD also includes 1/2" fittings and clamps, whereas many of our competitors do not).

Flow Parallelization: "How to create a mixed serial+parallel configuration in complex loops for dramatically improved flow performance."


Example of parallel setup using the Apogee™ HD waterblock and MCR Drive Rev3radiator: the GPU, Chipset and Memory lines branch out from the three Apogee™ HD outlet ports, and each line connects to one of the MCR Drive Rev3 inlet ports.



As mentioned earlier however, the consequence of parallelizing cooling devices is that the flow rate inside of said devices is also divided, therefore slower. So we now need to introduce another concept to further qualify the rationale behind parallelization: the heat flux generated by the different electronic devices, i.e. the rate of heat energy that they transfer through a given surface.

CPU’s

• Modern CPUs generate a lot of heat (up to and sometimes higher than 200 W), which is transferred through a very small die surface (the die is the actual silicon, and it is usually protected by a metallic plate called a heat spreader or IHS). Among other things, what it means in practical terms is that higher flow rates will have relatively more impact on the CPU operating temperature than on any other devices. For this reason, and in most configurations, the Apogee™ HD CPU waterblock will preferably always be connected in series with the main line, so it can benefit from the highest possible flow rate.

ALL other devices except radiators

• GPUs, whether they have an IHS or not, also generate a lot of heat (sometimes even more than CPU’s). However the physical size of the dies is substantially larger than that of any desktop CPUs. The resulting lower heat flux makes GPUs much less sensitive to flow rate. In fact, when both are liquid cooled, we can readily observe that the GPU operating temperature is always much lower than that of the CPU. For this reason, it is 1/ always preferable to parallelize multiple graphics cards with each-other, and 2/ when one or more GPU blocks are used in conjunction with one or more other devices like chipset and/or memory, it is always beneficial to parallelize the GPU(s) with said devices using the Apogee™ HD multi-port option.

• Chipsets, Memory, Hard Drives and pretty much everything else one would want to liquid cool in a PC can also be placed in the same use-category as GPUs, either because they have a low or moderate heat flux, or because the total amount of heat emitted by the devices can be handled without sophisticated cooling techniques. What it boils down to, is that they are even less flow-sensitive, and we submit that parallelization of these blocks should in fact become a standard.

Radiators

The higher the flow rate inside of a radiator, the quicker it will dissipate heat. For this reason, radiators will always remain on the primary line, just like the CPU block, in order to benefit from the highest possible flow rate.

In conclusion, we can see that the multi-port Apogee™ HD when coupled with the MCR Drive Rev3 radiators makes a compelling case for optimizing complex loops: it maximizes the flow rate where it matters most (on the CPU, and radiator) while offering a splitter-free parallelization of up to three other components (GPUs, chipset, etc.).

Alternate configuration:

The Apogee™ HD allows an alternate configuration: by using the main outlet as an entry port instead of the inlet, you can then parallelize the CPU with up to two more components: a second CPU, a GPU, a Chipset, etc. While it remains true as explained earlier that CPUs benefit from higher flow rate than other components, the few degrees in performance gains might not be consequential to some users. In these situations then, using the “alternate” configuration could for example be beneficial as follows:

• When cooling two CPUs, it might be desirable to parallelize them in order to maintain the exact same temperature for each CPU.

• For one of the quickest upgrades ever: one could get started with a CPU-only loop, and use the alternate configuration initially. Then when installing additional water-blocks (graphics for example), all would be needed is to drain the liquid out, replace the plug(s) by fitting(s), and connect the tubes to the new device(s). There is no need to remove the Apogee HD, no need to remove and recut tubes to length: the existing loop doesn’t need to be modified.



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