Tuesday, May 29th 2012
Swiftech Launches the Apogee Drive II CPU Water-Block with Integrated Pump
Swiftech today announced the release of the Apogee Drive II, a CPU waterblock featuring an integrated pump. "Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, the Apogee Drive II returns to take its place at the helm of Swiftech's CPU waterblock product line and it includes all the latest and greatest technological advancements that we have to offer today" said Gabriel Rouchon Swiftech's Chairman and CTA.
Derived in general concept from the company's Apogee Drive initially released in 2007, the Apogee Drive II much differs from the original in terms of its execution. The original was conceived as a moderate cost unit, using plastic injection molding for its body, the entry-level MCP350 pump and it came with bare essentials. In contrast, the Apogee Drive II is conceived as a luxury vessel: its uses the PWM controlled MCP35X, Swiftech's most powerful pump to date, a precision CNC machined water-block body that lends itself to easy upgrades for future socket form factors, adjustable inlet and outlet ports, a heatsink to further cool the pump, LED illuminated logo in a choice of 3 colors, braided cables, and the company's now famous retention system. The only concession to cost and waste-cutting measure the company made was to not bundle all the retention systems into one SKU, and to make 3 separate product versions.
According to the Company's own benchmarks, the Apogee Drive II edged the current Apogee HD in thermal performance, which is no small feat considering that the HD is currently hovering at the top of the world's performance charts. Given the considerable headroom afforded by the pump, uses for this type of device span across the entire spectrum of the high-end liquid cooling arena, but will particularly please system builders with space-constrained applications. The initial SKU being released is compatible with Intel CPUs using socket LGA 775, 1155 and 1366. Two more versions are expected to be released in June: a version compatible with Intel socket LGA 2011, and one compatible with all current AMD processor sockets.
MSRP
1155/1366 version: $144.95
2011 version: $135.95
AMD version: $138.95
Product Page
Derived in general concept from the company's Apogee Drive initially released in 2007, the Apogee Drive II much differs from the original in terms of its execution. The original was conceived as a moderate cost unit, using plastic injection molding for its body, the entry-level MCP350 pump and it came with bare essentials. In contrast, the Apogee Drive II is conceived as a luxury vessel: its uses the PWM controlled MCP35X, Swiftech's most powerful pump to date, a precision CNC machined water-block body that lends itself to easy upgrades for future socket form factors, adjustable inlet and outlet ports, a heatsink to further cool the pump, LED illuminated logo in a choice of 3 colors, braided cables, and the company's now famous retention system. The only concession to cost and waste-cutting measure the company made was to not bundle all the retention systems into one SKU, and to make 3 separate product versions.
MSRP
1155/1366 version: $144.95
2011 version: $135.95
AMD version: $138.95
Product Page
42 Comments on Swiftech Launches the Apogee Drive II CPU Water-Block with Integrated Pump
However, both this block/pump combo, and the ApogeeHD block and rad set, are soemthing else entirely fro mwhat koolance offers IMHO. You very nearly get easy high-end water setups, that are nearly as easy to assemble as the AIO coolers from Corsair, Antec, and the like, while offering functionality no other offers.
I posted about this unit before the news item hit...I've been paying close attention to Swifttech as of late, ebcuase they sure do have some good stuff this year!(Nevermind there's not much else new when it comes to watercooling right now:laugh:).
And this pump+highend block combo is a very awesome and welcome piece to the watercooling scene, do you imagine how this will integrate into microATX builds?
People didn't know where to put the res+pump combo because there isn't so much space in those cases, now you can get a clean small build with this.
In case you all were planning on hanging me out the window by my feet:
And yeah, their old parts were definitely shit.
the difference is not a big one at this little pomp.
the bad parts:
-the pomp generate vibrations
-the pomp can get hot
-the pomp connectors are tricky
in this system the connectors of the waterblock ar in L shape. this is the real problem because the connectors down get directly attached to the watterblock. (there are no filet). if you see the pictures there are a sets of screws that kepp the connectors pressed to the waterblock. this is not a good ideea.
see the screws?www.swiftech.org/images/products/APD2/ADJUSTABLE.jpg
this is the big problem, that mode keep the connector attached to the waterblock is the problem.
anyone that use water cooling in pc, dont want to stay with an eye on the pomp to see if leaks or not
still this good for a small WC started kit :P
This is one situation where the user needs to have a bit of common sense and all should be ok.