Swiftech Announces the H20-X20 Edge Series High-Performance Liquid Cooling Kits

[btarunr]

Rouchon Industries, Inc. dba Swiftech today announced the release of the H20-X20 EDGE series of "all-in-one" liquid cooling kits. The kits are composed of a patent pending heat exchanger combining pump and reservoir, and a CPU waterblock, which considerably simplifies the task of installation for the users. The patent pending heat exchangers called MCR Drive (Rev2) come in two sizes: for dual 120mm fans and for triple 120mm fans; they incorporate a new high power pump with variable speed control managed by the motherboard. The Apogee XTL CPU water-block included in the kits is derived from Swiftech's award winning Apogee XT.

Swiftech is counting on the versatility and performance superiority of their kits 'design to attract an expanded range of users. A key factor with respect to versatility is the kit's ability to easily support additional devices such as liquid cooled graphics coolers or extra radiators which is a must-have among power users; the extremely broad performance range of the H20-X20 kits is of equal importance in terms of competitive advantage, as the kits can be tuned to satisfy both ends of the users 'spectrum: from silent operations to extreme cooling; and finally the ease of installation is expected to appeal to quality oriented first-time users.



Capitalizing on 10 years of experience in designing and manufacturing liquid cooling systems, Swiftech also turbo-charges user-support by including multiple sets of accessories to accommodate various installation strategies, and they provide one of the most comprehensive installation guides in the industry which includes dozens of fully detailed pre-built 3D models.

"While Swiftech's Ultra, Ultima and Apex series of liquid cooling kits have set the performance standard among power users for the past 5 years, the Edge series combine equal or superior performance with the new triple radiator, a broader gamut of utilizations, and most of all a stupendous ease of installation that will appeal to anyone willing to make the jump into serious liquid cooling" said Gabriel Rouchon, Swiftech's Chairman and CTA.

MSRP:

• H20-220 EDGE: $309.95
• H20-320 EDGE: $339.95

For more information, visit the product page.

[JATownes]

From Product Page:

This pump can be adjusted in speed via the motherboard BIOS from 1300 rpm to run silent, or all the way to 4500 rpm maximum for extreme performance, as well as anywhere in between.

This looks very nice. I wonder if the block can be replaced? It sure looks like it can. This with a HeatKiller Rev. 3 would be a pretty sweet easy setup with great performance.

[phanbuey]

WOW... NOW THAT IS A KIT.

great job... finally easy liquid cooling that doesnt suck at life. price is a little extreme tho. one could easily build something comarable for $100 less.

[sneekypeet]

so your gonna buy a $340 kit, and add a $60-70 block?

I like the idea behind this, but seriously the pricing doesnt seem that effective for me to choose this over the conventional setup. I mean if I have room for a triple rad, I got room for a pump and res.

[Arrakis+9]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

WOW... NOW THAT IS A KIT.

great job... finally easy liquid cooling that doesnt suck at life. price is a little extreme tho. one could easily build something comarable for $100 less.

agreed on that one. the price of the 3x vs the 2x is only $30 as well. it seems too close together to justify getting the 2x

[JATownes]

Originally Posted by sneekypeet

so your gonna buy a $340 kit, and add a $60-70 block?

I like the idea behind this, but seriously the pricing doesnt seem that effective for me to choose this over the conventional setup. I mean if I have room for a triple rad, I got room for a pump and res.

No, this needs to be priced at $150-$200 to be cost effective.

[Mussels]

if it was $100 less, i'd be quite interested

Price is ridiculous, can build a nice set up with EK parts for the same.

[phanbuey]

it really should be $100 less... i dont see why it costs that much.

[bear jesus]

I was interested untill i saw the price, really i'm to lazy to build my own loop but i would choose to do that over spending this much on a pre made one.

[Whilhelm]

Price seems fair enough to me when you consider what it takes to make a similar loop out of individual parts.

Radiator, Pump, reservoir, block, fans, fittings, tubing, clamps and coolant add up pretty fast no matter how cheap you try to do it.

Yeah the pricing of the 220 variant should probably be a bit lower but you are paying for convenience with a setup like this.

I just went to their site and the price of the block and radiator with integrated pump adds up to 285.94 and that does not include fans, tubing or clamps.

[bear jesus]

Originally Posted by Whilhelm

Price seems fair enough to me when you consider what it takes to make a similar loop out of individual parts.

Radiator, Pump, reservoir, block, fans, fittings, tubing, clamps and coolant add up pretty fast no matter how cheap you try to do it.

Yeah the pricing of the 220 variant should probably be a bit lower but you are paying for convenience with a setup like this.

I just went to their site and the price of the block and radiator with integrated pump adds up to 285.94 and that does not include fans, tubing or clamps.

I am in the uk and my problem with the pricing is the h20-320 is £220 (using a direct currency conversion) yet a cheap cpu only loop with a triple 120mm rad, fittings, coolant, tubing, combined pump/reservoir and 6 120mm fans can be had for about £125 so for me paying around an extra £100 for being lazy does not really seam like good value.

Although i'm not saying a min cost loop would give the same temps as this, im still interested to see some reviews and temps, just very put off by the pricing

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Originally Posted by JATownes

From Product Page:


This looks very nice. I wonder if the block can be replaced? It sure looks like it can. This with a HeatKiller Rev. 3 would be a pretty sweet easy setup with great performance.

The bundled block looks like an Apogee XT, which is better than the award winning GTZ. Id rather keep the block instead of getting another one.. or get a custom lc instead shelling out extra cash.

But yeah, for that price, you can score a custom lc with a fatter tri rad, a laing d4, and a good block.

[Hayder_Master]

it's only for the cpu?

[popswala]

odd, in their install manuals of other products they say to mount the pump at bottom of case but this one is attached and is at top. how well would that work out being up there? i guess if its completely filled without any air in the system since you can't see your fluid level no way.

[WarEagleAU]

You could still build that cheaper regardless of those three you quoted. It is nice though and a hell of a block to boot.

[erocker]

I think the entire design is brilliant. With all of the cases out there that accept 2x120 and 3x120 rads at the top, this is perfect. The price is unfortunately just a little too steep.

[grouchon]

Hello TechPowerUp forum members, this is Gabriel Rouchon, AKA "Gabe" in the US, I am Swiftech's CEO. I saw a lot of comments here that I would like to respond to.

Originally Posted by JATownes

From Product Page:


This looks very nice. I wonder if the block can be replaced? It sure looks like it can. This with a HeatKiller Rev. 3 would be a pretty sweet easy setup with great performance.

Yes it can, since unlike other all-in-one kits available out there, the Edge remains a modular setup, which is one of our main selling points in fact, since you can add components to your loop with this setup, whereas you cannot do that with sealed (closed loop) all-in-one kits.

But in fact, you wouldn't even need to replace the block, as we thought about the people who already have gear that they want to re-use; all you would need to do is to procure the MCR X20 Drive radiator (220 or 320) with or without the pump (you could use the motor of your MCP350, MCP355, Laing DDC, or DDC2), and then use whatever block you have or prefer.

Originally Posted by sneekypeet

so your gonna buy a $340 kit, and add a $60-70 block?

I like the idea behind this, but seriously the pricing doesnt seem that effective for me to choose this over the conventional setup. I mean if I have room for a triple rad, I got room for a pump and res.

Price: I think I clarified part of it above, but will further clarify the price issues below.. read on
Room in the case: That's an excellent point you are bringing, and also very true. But step back a moment and give this another thought: in a conventional kit you have 4 main elements to connect and install: the radiator, the reservoir, the pump, and the water-block; it means, tubing, fittings, mechanical placement & fastening, and hydraulic setup.. a lot of work there. With this kit, you only have to worry about the radiator really.

So, it's not so much a question of having the space, it's a question of simplifying the installation, reducing the number of connections (leaky joints anyone?), and ultimately the reliability of the liquid cooling system. So when people below talk about being lazy etc.. they are missing the point. Don't get me wrong though, I do understand the pleasure in building a system: part of the fun in building it is the challenge it represents, and there is a well deserved pride in finding elegant ways to resolve that challenge; the explosive growth of the fittings business is a perfect illustration of the length to which people will go to setup nice looking liquid cooling systems! So in a sense, this new generation of kits is indeed removing part of the fun (difficulty)associated with building your own system. But wouldn't it be fair to call this progress?

Originally Posted by Arrakis+9

agreed on that one. the price of the 3x vs the 2x is only $30 as well. it seems too close together to justify getting the 2x

What this small difference between dual and triple rad really tells you is that Swiftech doesn't gouge consummers based on perception. In effect, if we charged the price based on perception, the triple rad being 30% bigger than the dual should be 30% more expensive.

Originally Posted by JATownes

No, this needs to be priced at $150-$200 to be cost effective.

Originally Posted by phanbuey

it really should be $100 less... i dont see why it costs that much.

I'll answer to both of the above. This is an issue of perception, and I can understand why. In a conventional kit, you get 4 separate components, here you only get two. So it is natural to think that the later should be cheaper. In reality, the 4 components are still there, but 3 of them got combined into 1. The reservoir is still there, and making that shape out of sheet metal is quite expensive (equal to the cost of a Micro Res for example); the pump housing is also there, soldered to the radiator body, and making it out of CNC brass costs an order of magnitude more than the standard injection molded plastic top of the MCP350/355/DDC pumps.

The real question here is this: do these kits bring more value than equivalent performance kits such as the H20 Ultima XT for example, which have been leading the kit market for over 5 years? H20-220 Apex XT: $309.95 - H20-220 Edge: $309.95 - Equal top performance, broader range of utilizations, simpler to install, more reliable (less potentially leaky joints).. You tell me.

Now if the question is "can I make a kit out of the components that I like for much cheaper" then the answer is possibly yes, but will it perform as well, as reliably, and will it be as simple to install is something that we cannot objectively assess without a serious apple to apple comparision. I emphasize objectively here, because you can also get a CoolIT or a Corsair kit for less than half the price. Will they meet your needs for integrating other components -no; will they perform as well? probably not either.. but I know many people who really do not care about a 5 to 10 degrees difference on their CPU, so the two types of kits can certainly co-exist, at least for now, since they cater to two different segments of the market.

Originally Posted by bear jesus

I am in the uk and my problem with the pricing is the h20-320 is £220 (using a direct currency conversion) yet a cheap cpu only loop with a triple 120mm rad, fittings, coolant, tubing, combined pump/reservoir and 6 120mm fans can be had for about £125 so for me paying around an extra £100 for being lazy does not really seam like good value.

Although i'm not saying a min cost loop would give the same temps as this, im still interested to see some reviews and temps, just very put off by the pricing

That's another interesting argument there, so I wanted to check-it out for myself. I went online to over%^$%*.co.uk and decided to build myself a kit. Here is what I came up with (I didn't pick the most expensive components mind-you as you can see below)

all prices below vat included:

EK Coolstream XT360 radiator: £40
3 fans @ £8 each: £24
EK Supreme LT waterblock: £28
EK Multioption reservoir: £27
MCP655 Vario pump: £75
6 x 12mm fittings @ 2.3 each: £13.8
2m x 12mm value tubing @ 1.6 /m : £3.2
Coolant: £7

Total: £218

It looks eerily close to the £220 retail value that you calculated for our kit above no? so what am missing? What's the VAT over there? about 18% ? So if we assume in effect that our kits will sell without VAT at about the same MSRP as in the US, and at the current conversion rate, then the difference between the above custom kit and our Edge kit would be about 18% or say about £40; so £40 it is, but certainly not the £100 that you estimated in your post. Feel free to correct my math if I'm wrong of course.

So now, let me ask you this: are truly enhanced reliability and simplicity with equal or better performance worth £40? Only your wallet can answer this, I do realize it. So what I can promise you here, is that the price of these kits will go down over time, as we continue to make progress in production and design efficiency.

Originally Posted by Bjorn_Of_Iceland

The bundled block looks like an Apogee XT, which is better than the award winning GTZ. Id rather keep the block instead of getting another one.. or get a custom lc instead shelling out extra cash.

But yeah, for that price, you can score a custom lc with a fatter tri rad, a laing d4, and a good block.

I think I responded in detail above. But also feel free to contradict me, that's what forums are all about

Originally Posted by popswala

odd, in their install manuals of other products they say to mount the pump at bottom of case but this one is attached and is at top. how well would that work out being up there? i guess if its completely filled without any air in the system since you can't see your fluid level no way.

When we designed these kits, we focused on enabling the top of the case as one of the primary default installations because it is also one of the most common spots where people CAN install a large radiator in current full-tower cases. so yes, it works great at the top of the case!

Originally Posted by erocker

I think the entire design is brilliant. With all of the cases out there that accept 2x120 and 3x120 rads at the top, this is perfect. The price is unfortunately just a little too steep.

Thanks, I do appreciate the feed-back. We have a list of compatible cases on the product page too.. but you have to scroll down a lot, since I had a lot to say in this propduct description (probably too much in fact).

Cheers you all!

[Mussels]

grouchon: Just sent a message up the food chain, so you can be confirmed as a rep and given a custom title.

[grouchon]

Originally Posted by Mussels

grouchon: Just sent a message up the food chain, so you can be confirmed as a rep and given a custom title.

email me direct at gabe@swiftech.com, I will respond

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by grouchon

email me direct at gabe@swiftech.com, I will respond

someone higher up than me confirmed it already

[cadaveca]

Hello, Gabe.

I think the price is a bit high as well. I do understand the points you've made, however, to buy a complete loop comparable to what's offered by this kit, built with swiftech parts, will cost me a fair bit less, and I have added some extra parts, like an AM3 mount for A swifttech block.

While I agree that conveinence is important, and you make some valid points about that, I think you are bang-on wit hthe "perception" part of it. And the way I perceive this, grouping all these bits together and selling as a kit, it should cost less than assembling the parts.


Your Ultima Xt kit, for example, at my retailer, is actually quite a bit more expensive than peice the same parts together, and I think you must agree that paying more, in this example, for the exact same parts, seems a bit foolish. I can actually peice together the exact same kit as the 220 Ultima kit, but with a 360mm rad, for $20 less(which also includes the AM3 adapter). You can check this for yourself @ NCIX...

Now, of course, this may be retailer gouging, but...

Should any parts in the "seperates" kit fail, they are easy to replace. In htis new kit, replacement is not so easy, as the rad and such are kinda specialized.

So, with all of this in mind, I think the $100 less price is fair..because we are expecting retailers to add on top of that cost. If you can actually bring this to market for $299 retail, then I think you guys have done a good job, but $5 more, and it's not going to be worth it for most of us. $300 for cooling a single component, for most of us here, is pretty steep.

[mlee49]

Notorious Gabe, built a hell of a reputation over at XS and I personally love your review on Dual Loop vs Single loop.

My question is why didn't Swiftech use the MCR Drive series? Dur it is... I couldn't tell that from the pic. The MCR Drive photo shows the front of the rad/pump/res, where this shows the back side.

[grouchon]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

Hello, Gabe.

I think the price is a bit high as well. I do understand the points you've made, however, to buy a complete loop comparable to what's offered by this kit, built with swiftech parts, will cost me a fair bit less, and I have added some extra parts, like an AM3 mount for A swifttech block.

While I agree that conveinence is important, and you make some valid points about that, I think you are bang-on wit hthe "perception" part of it. And the way I perceive this, grouping all these bits together and selling as a kit, it should cost less than assembling the parts.


Your Ultima Xt kit, for example, at my retailer, is actually quite a bit more expensive than peice the same parts together, and I think you must agree that paying more, in this example, for the exact same parts, seems a bit foolish. I can actually peice together the exact same kit as the 220 Ultima kit, but with a 360mm rad, for $20 less(which also includes the AM3 adapter). You can check this for yourself @ NCIX...

Now, of course, this may be retailer gouging, but...

Should any parts in the "seperates" kit fail, they are easy to replace. In htis new kit, replacement is not so easy, as the rad and such are kinda specialized.

So, with all of this in mind, I think the $100 less price is fair..because we are expecting retailers to add on top of that cost. If you can actually bring this to market for $299 retail, then I think you guys have done a good job, but $5 more, and it's not going to be worth it for most of us. $300 for cooling a single component, for most of us here, is pretty steep.

What you forget is that the street price of the Ultima kits is no longer full MSRP, so you can't compare. From our standpoint, we set both kits at = MSRP. Then what happens is that dealers start to compete, which puts a downwards pressure on street pricing. However, when a new product comes out, MSRP tends to be respected for a while. So if price is your absolute priority, and if you need a kit right now, then for sure, you will pay a premium for this one.

Choosing this technology corresponds to a need, or a choice that you make to simplify installation, and enhance reliability. With regards to replacing the parts, I can tell you this: the pump is not about to change. As to the radiator, yes it will evolve over time, but in a downwards spiral price-wise, since we are pushing hard to bring costs down. It may take some time, but we'll get there! Oh, and I almost forgot a critical point: the more parts you have the more possibilities of failure, the less you have is indeed the opposite. Finally, the components that are the most susceptible to fail are those with moving parts, and we do offer a 2 year warranty on the pump. so I am not sure that the argument about replacing failing parts is any different in a a pieced-together-kit versus this all=in-one technology.

Originally Posted by mlee49

Notorious Gabe, built a hell of a reputation over at XS and I personally love your review on Dual Loop vs Single loop.

My question is why didn't Swiftech use the MCR Drive series? Dur it is... I couldn't tell that from the pic. The MCR Drive photo shows the front of the rad/pump/res, where this shows the back side.

We revised the MCR Drive to allow the radiator to work perfectly at the top of the case, which has become the most popuilar mount.

[douglatins]

The triple should be 299, just too keep under 300 and make use that mental marketing that actually works.

The price is decent, but not great. 299 or less should be an aim