Long Beach, California based company Swiftech is known industry wide as one of the forefathers of liquid cooling. In 1999 they began developing peltier based cpu coolers for advanced overclocking which led Swiftech to begin working with liquid cooling solutions. Known today for their excellent quality water pumps, radiators, and liquid cooling blocks, Swiftech is easily one of the market leaders in the mainstream liquid cooling market. Until recently however, they have stayed out of the all in one (AIO) cooling solution game. Now, after 3 years of development, they have announced the H220. Aimed at the average user interested in liquid cooling but not yet ready to jump into a full blown custom loop, the H220 claims to be an affordable, adaptable, and silent cooling solution for all users. Follow along as we take the H220 through the gauntlet to see if it really is all it claims to be.
Special thanks to Swiftech for supplying the H220 for review today.
Features
From virtually silent to comfortable audible noise levels
– Our design objective for this product was to minimize the operating noise while preserving high thermal performance characterisitcs. At its lowest speed settings, the system is virtually inaudible. At its maximum speed, the H220 remains within comfortable audible noise levels.
Plug-and-Play
– The H220 is the easiest AIO liquid cooling kits to install bar none, and is even easier to setup than many high-end air coolers.
Superior Thermal Performance
-Thanks to its copper & brass dual 120mm radiator, high static pressure Helix 120mm fans, more powerful DC pump than any other AIO on the market, and because it shares the Award winning Apogee™ Drive II cpu waterblock design, the H220 kit delivers the same level of superior thermal performance that can be found in custom kits.
Expandability
– The H220 differentiates differentiates itself from other AIO’s by its ability to support additional liquid cooled components such as graphics cards, chipset, and/or additional radiator(s).
-
From a practical standpoint, this is possible thanks to:
- The presence of a reservoir including a fill-port built into the radiator so that the system can be easily emptied or refilled by the user at will,
- Enthusiast grade 5/8” OD black PVC tubing fastened to swivel fittings with an elegant clamping system that users can easily remove and safely re-install.
-
From a thermal performance standpoint, this is made possible by:
- The high thermal capacity of the dual 120mm copper and brass radiator
- The powerful high-pressure pump capable of driving sufficient flow to cool multiple devices in the loop.
Automatic speed control or fine-tuning right out of the box
– Both the pump and the fans are PWM compliant devices, allowing the H220 to be recognized and speed-controlled by the motherboard depending on CPU temperature just like any standard CPU cooler. As a bonus, the system includes a PWM splitter allowing connection of up to 8 PWM devices which can then be controlled as one by the motherboard.
Maintenance-free
– As shipped from our factory, the H220 CPU cooler requires no maintenance during its 3 year waranty period; a system refill is recommend at the end of 3 years. Under extreme ambient conditions, the system may need more frequent refills. If upgraded by the user, the interval of time between refills will depend on how users implement their customized loop.
Reliability
– Both fans and pump are rated for a 60,000 MTBF (Meantime Between Failures)
Support
– With over 10 years of experience designing, manufacturing and setting up liquid cooling systems, Swiftech® customer service can assist you in setting up and troubleshooting your system 6 days a week, 12 hours a day.
Packaging
As this cooler has just hit the market, the version we received for review was not the final printed retail version of the box. What we received was a plain white box, that I can only assume will be the same but printed on. Inside is a two piece cardboard clamshell that holds the whole unit as well as all the accessories in one spot. I can only say that it is tidy, if not a bit spartan. It seems to be completely adequate in the most important category, which is of course, protecting the product. I wouldn’t expect to see too many of these damaged in transit.
For a full unboxing and overview of the H220 check out our video below.