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Before proceeding any further, I wanted to mention that this review
of the Swiftech 478-UHT was made possible by Xtreme Tek Werkz. Kudos
to Frank and his team for securing this product for us as they are
very scarce and in demand. I recommend you visit
www.xtwerkz.com and take a look at the great selection of products
they stock for everyone, from the novice to the most hardcore among
us.
The picture below, shows what we received from Xtreme Tek Werkz.
Even though we have seen pictures of this water block, we could
not help but to be impressed upon seeing it in person. The sheer
size of the water block is impressive enough, but that coupled with
the craftsmanship that was clearly put in to the production of this
item led us to a preliminary conclusion that we had a winner on
our hands.
The
package contents included the water block, which already had the
TEC preinstalled. The TEC was clamped between a cold plate and the
water block itself. Swiftech uses and recommends Arctic Silver as
the interface material between the TEC and all surfaces it comes
into contact with. In addition the package included 1/2"
fittings, a motherboard gasket, a patch for the back of the motherboard,
and all the mounting hardware that is required to get up and running.
In order for TECs to operate efficiently one of the requirements
is that there be sufficient clamping pressure applied to the device.
TECs require approximately 150 - 200 psi in order to operate properly.
We were certainly curious to know how Swiftech designed the 478-UHT
in order to comply with this requirement. The following picture
shows the bottom side of the cold plate. As you can see, 8 screws
are used to apply clamping pressure.
Still
curious, we removed the gaskets that insulate the entire cold plate/TEC/water
block assembly. As you can see, the screws extend past the cold
plate into the water block and sandwich the TEC between its two
surfaces.
By
way of visual inspection, we were satisfied that the TEC would operate
optimally as a result of Swiftech's design.
The following picture shows how the water block looks like with
the 1/2" barbed fittings attached.
In
the next picture notice the water block's mounting mechanism. This
design offers some flexibility as the block can be used for Intel
Xeons (inner holes) as well as standard P4s.
The
specs for the 478-UHT are quite lengthy and in the interest of time,
we invite you to visit Swiftech's site at www.swiftnets.com.
in order to view the material directly. We did however want to touch
upon the design concept of this water block. In the following picture
we notice that the body of the water block consists of an open chamber.
Swiftech uses "focus jet cooling" in their design, which
is basically directs the incoming water stream to the center of
the chamber.
The copper base plate of the water
block (on your right) has an irregular surface design, which induces
turbulence within the water in the open chamber.
Presumably, the stated design aids
in the rapid transfer of heat from the water block.
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