Assembly and Installation Tips

Installation of any liquid-cooling system starts with water blocks mounting onto major system components. We decided to follow this traditional rule and consulted the manual before installing Apogee GT processor water block:

It turned out I didn’t really need to consult a manual, because the installation onto my LGA775 platform was extremely simple. All I had to do is screw it on to the backplate and insert the fittings into the corresponding holes:

However, I could have attached the fittings even before installing the water block onto the CPU.

Installing Swiftech MCW60 water block onto Radeon HD 4850 also turned out as easy:

The installation of the chipset water block should also be completely problem-free, however, I didn’t check it out, because in this case I would have had to take off the bulky chipset cooler from the ASUS P5K Deluxe mainboard. Besides, I didn’t want to leave the processor voltage regulator components without cooling, too.

Of course, you should find a place for the radiator, pump and tank. And if the latter two components of Swiftech H₂0-220 Apex Ultra+ liquid-cooling system are small enough to be put inside the system case, the radiator and fans will not fit into a standard ATX case. Therefore, Swiftech designed special retention that will allow attaching the radiator block to the outside of the case rare panel, just like they did with Swiftech H₂0-220 Compact. However, we encountered a problem with Swiftech H₂0-220 Apex Ultra+, which we didn’t have with the Compact system: the tubes were too thick to fit into the opening from the removed rear panel bracket. There should be special 18-mm holes in the back of the case for tubing like that. And since my ASUS ASCOT 6AR2-B didn’t have any holes like that I decided to place the radiator block on top of the mainboard box next to the system case:

I used sticky tape to attach the tank to the desk panel and set the pump onto the railings from the removed HDD chassis (it was a perfect fit):

By the way, if you want to attach the pump to the bottom of your system case you have to use shock absorbing padding that will not only reduce vibrations but will also change the acoustics to something more acceptable for human ear (I didn’t use any).

The system should be filled with a mixture of HydrX coolant and 0.5 l of distilled water. It will be a lot easier to do if you use the enclosed small funnel. Assembled and filled Swiftech H₂0-220 Apex Ultra+ liquid-cooling system looks as follows:

I have to admit that this whole thing the way I put it together doesn’t look too nice for long-term use. However, it will do alright for testing purposes.

Another thing I really like about liquid-cooling systems compared against air coolers is the compact size of the water blocks they use:

No bulky heatsinks, any spot in the area around the socket is clearly visible and easily reachable. It may be an insignificant advantage, but still an advantage for the liquid-cooling system.