Testing

Methodology

All of the testing is carried out outside of a computer case. As with every test, we use a thin layer of Arctic Silver 5 between the core and the CPU cooler for comparable results. Ambient temperature was 19C throughout.

To test we simply boot the PC up with a freshly installed copy of Windows XP, and measure temperatures using Speedfan. The onboard temperature sensor is disregarded and instead the CPU’s own diode is used.

For idle testing, we simply let the testing rig sit doing absolutely nothing for 30 minutes and take the most representative temperature of the last 10 minutes. The same is used for the load testing, but instead of letting the PC do nothing, Orthos Stress Prime is used to load both cores to 100%.

As this motherboard also has a temperature sensor in the chipset, we will also measure the temperature of that in the same way as the CPU in order to get an idea of how effective the ‘collateral’ cooling is of the kit.

As the provided fan can be run at either full speed (12v) or reduced (7v) we’ll test both in the same manner. The radiator is placed behind the rear motherboard ports which is where it would reside in most cases (providing it fits). There are two ways to have the fan blowing; either into your case or out of it. The first gives lower CPU temperatures while increased case temps, while the latter has slightly elevated CPU while providing a cooler case environment. The fan has been set to blow air away from the motherboard.

Results

Click for chipset results

As you can see from the results, the Swiftech H2O 120 Compact is far from amazing in regards to its temperatures. It manages to beat the un-lapped IFX-14 by a couple of degrees at load with the 7v fan limit although idle temperatures aren’t quite as good. The kit is louder too by a good 10 dBA although the difference to the ear is negligible and both are quiet.

With the fan operating at 7v, it manages to beat the stock cooler by a fair margin while reducing noise output too.

When the fan is put into 12v mode, it reduces the max temperature by 3 degrees while the idle reading remains the same; just 6 degrees above ambient. However, once the IFX-14 has been lapped, the dynamic changes and the IFX-14 gives the two fingers to the Swiftech by maintaining a couple of degrees below the watercooling kit.

While the difference is small, the chipset temperature is awful (click the graph to get the results). As the fan misses the passively cooled chipset heatsink, the temperatures soar to a level that is untouchable (it burns). While the kit isn’t designed to cool anything but the CPU, it should be noted that it won’t add a great deal of benefit to anything else.

At the 7v speed, the fan would be classed as quiet but not quite good enough to be mulnaz or less. It still pumps a fair amount of air at this level too. Once the resistor is removed, the fan makes an obvious difference to the computer noise, and probably won’t be liked by most people, unless they are used to a constant hum of a computer.

The pump itself however is very quiet and sounds similar to a hard disc idling, definitely mulnaz and nearing silence.

While this sounds like the kit isn’t great, you have to think about the difference between air and water cooling. Once you purchase a kit like this, you have taken the first steps into getting onto the watercooling ladder. You have all the bits and pieces to get your rig completely watercooled, allowing you to purchase more components to decrease other temperatures in your computer, like a GPU block or one for your chipset. You can even upgrade the radiator, or the pump allowing for increased basic cooling. With air cooling, you are stuck with the same chunk of metal, with the possibility of upgrading the fan with limited performance benefits. A watercooling kit is always expandable, and Swiftech promote the purchasing improvements (obviously) which means that the asking price is more reasonable than you first think.