Closer Examination

The particular combination of customization options was chosen by Swiftech for my review sample, and it ended up being a black chrome body (top) with a magenta cover and red logo. What otherwise looks like it might conflict ends up being a very nice combination in my opinion, and keep in mind that if you chose the red cover, the color would indeed match the logo - this was something I saw a few people comment on when I shared a few pictures online before the review, so I wanted to clarify that. Between all the metal everywhere, the Apogee SKF is not a lightweight block, and this is despite the use of a large acrylic window in the middle (and elsewhere, as we will see below) to help make visible the microfins on the cold plate as well as the coolant passing through when in use. There is also a short cable (4" long) that extends from the side with a female header to power and control the built-in LEDs.


From the side, we can see just how thick the body/top piece is with the mounting bracket pieces in between, along with the cover, more acrylic pieces for the lighting, and the copper cold plate at the bottom. The "Heirloom series" Apogee SKF is limited, as mentioned before, and each piece comes with a serial number marked on the side, along with an optional short phrase of your choosing done at the time of pre-order. Swiftech chose to put my name on there, and so I deliberately cut the image to not reveal it while showing enough to get the point across. This particular unit is thus #27. There are little design details that can be seen from the sides too, including the grooves cut in on the front that extend past the edges. The build quality is absolutely fantastic here, with no problems on the threading of the two BSP G1/4" ports on the front. Given the nature of the two being placed diagonally and opposite one another, there is also enough spacing between these to allow for even larger quick disconnect and 1/2" x 3/4" compression fittings here.


Turning the block over, we see another protective plastic wrap on the copper cold plate to keep it pristine and free of oxidation when used. Swiftech confirmed that the fins were too thin to reliably plate the copper cold plate, and we have only bare copper to look at here thus. There was no clear coat applied, so the cold plate began displaying signs of oxidation within a few days of exposure, which is purely cosmetic of course and can be taken care of with a quick dip/scrub with dilute acids. The cold plate does have a mirror finish out of the box, for what it is worth.


As always, full disassembly was done post-testing. However, I had to partially disassemble the block to replace a mounting bracket piece that had ever so slightly smaller holes. Instead of filing it down, Swiftech offered to send replacement brackets at no cost by next day air, saying this is what they would do for any paying customer, so I definitely appreciate that. They also confirmed they measured every single mounting bracket on hand, so the one here was a one-off, and I expect them to increase quality control further now. I also do not believe this partial disassembly will have affected test results in any way.

There are four screws on the bottom that hold the cold plate in place, and removing it, we see another acrylic window internally with a second rubber O-ring to prevent the coolant from getting into the section housing the lighting. There is no jetplate or central split flow mechanism here, and Swiftech has continued to use their diagonal entry/exit flow wherein there is no dedicated inlet or outlet port and coolant simply flows from one diagonal to the other. This is in contrast to just about everyone else, so let's see how it works out in practice in just a short while.


There are two more screws in the middle that go through the mounting bracket pieces as well as the outer acrylic window, and this helps keep the cover in position as well. Removing these, we see the three addressable LEDs per side on the body of the block, which help with the custom lighting options over the provided Iris controller.

The cold plate itself is an engineering marvel featuring an industry-first 125 micron thick microfins and channels - the smallest I am otherwise aware of is 200 microns, adopted by companies including Koolance and Aqua Computer. The cooling engine here measures in at 34 x 34 mm for the microfin area, which is also on the larger side of things, and there are simply way too many slotted fins to accurately count. What I can tell you instead is that the fin stack is approximately 3 mm high (again on the higher side of average), while the cold plate itself is thinner at 1.45 mm on the outside, so there is very good heat-transfer potential here, at the expense of potentially higher liquid-flow restriction.

When re-assembling, just remember to put the O-rings back in place if they got dislodged and reverse these steps accordingly. As always, TechPowerUp is not liable for any issues that arise from your disassembly of the waterblock.