|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
DISCONTINUED VERSION REPLACED BY APOGEE GT
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Introductionap·o·gee: The farthest or highest point; the apex; a final climactic stage The Apogee™ water-block succeeds our award winning MCW6000 series water-blocks with a quantum leap in performance, a universal installation design and competitive pricing resulting from economies of scale. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis, we optimized the structure -the Patent Pending Diamond Pin Matrix of our MCW55 water-block cold plate to match the thermal and physical characteristics of AMD® and Intel® latest microprocessors. In particular we took into account the trend for dual core processors which feature larger die sizes thus requiring a different treatment of the heat fluxes. The resulting product achieves new heights in thermal performance with a lower pressure drop than that of the MCW6000 water-block which was known to be among the least restrictive high performance water-blocks on the market. As a result the Apogee™ water-block may outperform our STORM model by a up to 1°C (at 100 Watts thermal load and 1.0 GPM), and further increase its lead in multiprocessor, multi-vga applications due to its low restriction characteristics as can be seen in our kit test results HERE. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Performance dataThe Apogee™ was tested in our labs, using the same equipment and testing methodology as was used with the Storm and MCW6000/6002 water-blocks, and is compared to these products below. Test equipment and methodology closely follow Intel® recommended procedures. Actual CPU testing was also conducted, and the data is reported HERE.
It can be seen that the pressure drop of the Apogee™ is lower than that of the MCW6002 at equal flow rates, and substantially lower than that of the Storm. In the real world where the range of flow rates is limited by the power of the pump, this will also translate into noticeable gains when multiple water-blocks are connected in series. A simple example illustrates this point quite clearly: using the same MCP350 pump, it will take three Apogee™ water-blocks in series to drop the flow rate to that of single Storm. The next graph shows the thermal resistance (C/W) of the three water-blocks at various flow rates.
Here it is apparent that the Apogee™ has the lowest thermal resistance at all flow rates and more importantly features a wider performance advantage at "real life" flow rates between .3 and 1.5 GPM. The above two graphs can then be combined below to illustrate the pressure drop / thermal resistance relationship.
From the above curve, it can be seen that the Apogee™ water-block does not necessitate a high pressure pump to be extremely efficient. It yields in fact lower (better) thermal resistance values than the MCW6000 and Storm water-blocks at all pressure drops. Another way to consider the relationship between the water-block's thermal resistance and the pump capability is to plot the hydraulic resistance, which is literally the work that the pump must do.
As in the preceding graph, the Apogee™ outperforms all previous solutions whether a small aquarium pump or a high pressure industrial pump are used. It should be added that under certain
circumstances, the Storm water-block may perform better than the
Apogee™ water-block. We cite for example earlier generations AMD
Athlon XP, MP and Duron processors where the die size is smaller
in surface area (100 to 140mm2) than current microprocessors.
In such instances, the difference in temperature was found to
be 1.4°C at 100 Watts, and at the maximum flow rate allowed
by our test equipment (about 3.3 GPM for Apogee™, and 2 GPM for
Storm). Such test were conducted using the alternate testing procedure
described in the link below. Finally, and to further validate our data we tested the Apogee™ water-block on on a popular CPU platform the AMD® Athlon® 64 X2 4400+, and such test confirmed the above data. Please see test results HERE. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Motherboard and CPU CompatibilityThe Apogee™ is essentially meant as a universal water-block. It ships with all the necessary hardware for the following processor (classified by the type of sockets that they use):
(*) Release note 6-13-06: Gigabyte motherboards are not compatible at the time of release due to the backplate fastening system (pins instead of screws). Aftermarket replacement backplates are expected to become available in the future. Removal of the motherboard is necessary to install the mounting posts in all cases, except with AMD® Athlon 64, Opteron (socket 754, 939 and 940), and socket AM2.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Specifications![]() Exploded view
The Diamond Pin Matrix requires proper base-plate orientation in relation to the intlet and outlet ports as shown below:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
MSRP & PartsPlease consult your Swiftech distributor prior to ordering direct from us, or purchase the product factory direct here
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
![]()
|