The Patent Pending 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. "Anyone looking at our test data will be shocked by the results, but the Apogee water-block clearly
demonstrates Swiftech's commitment to bring the best possible solutions to the market place." said Gabriel Rouchon,
Swiftech's Chairman.
Following the launch of the new Apogee water-block, our entire line of CPU liquid cooling kits has been upgraded to
offer our customers a range of choices tailored to everyone's need:
Introduction
ap·o·gee: Apogee 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.
Performance data
The 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
herein.
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).
Motherboard and CPU Compatibility
The 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):
Socket 478 (Intel® Pentium® 4),
Socket 775 (Pentium® 4 "Prescott"),
Socket 603/604 (Intel® Xeon™ - 400 and 533 FSB) - see note 1
Socket 462 (AMD® Athlon®, Duron®, MP, XP) - see note 2 below
Socket 754, 939, 940 (AMD® 64 bit processors).
Note 1: Intel® Xeon™ "Nocona" processors (800Mhz FSB motherboards) mounting hardware is sold separately under
part # AP-NC604
Note 2: AMD® socket 462 (socket A). The Apogee can be used exclusively with motherboards featuring the 4
mounting holes around the socket.
Removal of the motherboard is necessary to install the mounting posts in all cases, except with AMD® Athlon™ 64
and Opteron™ (socket 754, 939 and 940).
Fittings & tubing compatibility
Two sets of Nylon hose barbs are included with the device: 3/8" (10mm) and 1/2" (12mm).
The apogee uses NPSM threads. Please refer to "Connector Thread Compatibility" HERE for further information about
this US standard.
SPECS.
The universal hold-down plate features mounting holes for all current Desktop and midrange server processors
(Xeon™, Opteron™). Optional hardware is available for high-end server processors (Itanium™).
Hold-down plate
Nylon Fittings: 1/4" NPSM to 3/8" and/or 1/2" barbs
Fitting O-ring: (2) EPDM O-ring AS568A Dash Number 112
Base plate dimensions: 2" x 2" (50.5 x 50.5 mm)
Assembly weight: : 6.7 oz (190 g)
Apogee water-block Assembly including water-block, hold-down plate, retention hardware for Intel socket 478 (Intel®
Pentium® 4), socket 775 (Pentium® 4 "Prescott"), socket 603-604 (Intel® Xeon™ 400, 533 FSB), socket 462 (AMD®
Athlon®, Duron®, XP, MP), socket 754, 939, 940 (AMD® 64 bit processors), two sets of hose barbs (3/8" & 1/2"),
Arctic Céramique thermal paste, installation guide $ 49.99
AP-NC604 Xeon "Nocona" (800 Mhz FSB motherboards) Mounting hardware $ 3.00
The CNC machined C110 copper base plate is at the heart of Apogee's cooling efficiency. The
Patent Pending Diamond Pin Matrix was optimized using Computational Fluid Dynamics
analysis to yield the remarkable results recorded by the water-block. In the process, thickness
of the base was reduced to 3mm. This resulted in a higher compliance of the base with its
mating surface (i.e. the CPU heat spreader) thanks to the base plate added flexing ability.
Patent Pending
Diamond Pin Matrix Copper base plate
Patent Pending Housing
The housing is injection molded out of Black Acetal. This process is key allow mass production of
the water-block, and thus economies of scale
