1 00:00:00,719 --> 00:00:07,040 Are they launching another 2 00:00:04,839 --> 00:00:10,559 series? Okay, whatever. If you don't like all the series that we have now, 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:15,839 then just treat this like a standalone video because it's cool either way. The 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:20,400 idea here was to take topof-the-line products from a particular category. We 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:26,160 decided on CPU water cooling for the first one, and measure just how far 6 00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:32,880 we've come thanks to improvements in design and manufacturing. Welcome to 7 00:00:29,039 --> 00:00:35,010 episode 1 of Through the Ages CPU 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:39,959 cooling 9 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:49,039 blocks. Massdrop is now featuring the 10 00:00:46,039 --> 00:00:51,280 AKGM220 semi-open studio headphones. 11 00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:56,000 Check them and other drops out at the link in the video description. 12 00:00:54,079 --> 00:01:01,680 So, the first step in this undertaking was to gather up CPU blocks from as far 13 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:06,159 back as we possibly could. By teaming up with SwiftTech, we were able to scrape 14 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:12,880 together seven of their nine blocks going all the way back to July of 2005, 15 00:01:09,439 --> 00:01:15,360 a span of over 10 years. So, time to get 16 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:20,400 started testing them, right? Nah, that would have been too easy. The intention 17 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:26,080 was to use a modern test bench to eliminate as many variables from our 18 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:28,400 test as possible. And as the astute 19 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:35,119 among you might have already realized, Intel's latest flagship X99 platform not 20 00:01:32,079 --> 00:01:37,840 only didn't exist yet, but Intel wasn't 21 00:01:35,119 --> 00:01:43,119 even the performance king back then. So, we needed to source modern mounting 22 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:49,600 brackets for many of the blocks. Time for some DIY metal fabrication. Step one 23 00:01:47,119 --> 00:01:55,040 was to glue the hold down plate drawings that Swiftech modified for us onto a 24 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:59,759 piece of sheet steel. Then we went to work with the aviation shears, cutting 25 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:03,520 the outside edges. We drilled out the middle as much as we could with a step 26 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:08,160 drill, finishing off again with the aviation shears. And finally, we center 27 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:12,400 punched the holes and drilled through them with a titanium bit, cleaning 28 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,720 things up a little bit with the Dremel. This was pretty tedious, but we didn't 29 00:02:14,959 --> 00:02:21,400 want to bother our friends over at Protocase to make them for us if we 30 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:27,520 didn't have to. And yeah, so the Apogee GTZ required a 31 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:31,599 specific plate thickness and a pretty precise cutout. So, they ended up 32 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:35,680 whipping one of those up for us in the shop. So, so much for that. But anyway, 33 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:39,680 thanks Proto Case. As always, you guys were lightning fast and the plate fits 34 00:02:37,319 --> 00:02:45,760 perfectly. Let's introduce now then the test bench that we're using. We used an 35 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:50,400 Intel Core i7 6850K 6 core processor 36 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:52,560 with a 246 mm squared die and a 140 W 37 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:56,959 rated TDP. Though it should be noted that according to this Tom's hardware 38 00:02:54,400 --> 00:03:01,440 article, it's closer to 100 watts in the real world. This might be important for 39 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:06,480 later. The rest of the components, in no particular order, are an ASUS X99 Deluxe 40 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:10,640 2, 32 gigs of Corsair Vengeance DDR4, a random GTX 980 Ti that wasn't connected 41 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:16,800 to the water loop, making it somewhat irrelevant, and our water cooling gear, 42 00:03:12,959 --> 00:03:19,519 an Alphacool Nexus XP 45 triple 120 mil 43 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:26,000 rad with Noctua industrial PPC fans, a D5 pump with an EKX top, and some 3/8 in 44 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:31,680 Primoflex tubing. We used IC Diamond for our thermal compound. So each block was 45 00:03:28,959 --> 00:03:36,000 mounted using M4 screws with nylon washers to achieve the desired mounting 46 00:03:33,959 --> 00:03:40,560 pressure. Yeah, we were a little bit approximate here, but as I think you'll 47 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:46,000 see from the results, it likely didn't matter much. Idle temps were recorded 48 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:51,280 using IDA 64's logging tool after 10 minutes. Then load temps were recorded 49 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:55,440 using a 3minut mean average after allowing the water temps to reach 50 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:59,480 equilibrium. Room temperature was maintained by our zone controlled HVAC 51 00:03:57,519 --> 00:04:05,200 system at 23° C. Wow, that was boring. All right, 52 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:12,319 let's meet our first contestant. This is the legendary Swifttec Storm. Designed 53 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:15,120 by Cathar himself and sold to Swift for 54 00:04:12,319 --> 00:04:20,959 mass production back in ' 05. It features an impingement design with a 55 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:24,160 midplate sporting 35 microjets that 56 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:27,040 blasted turbulent water into 35 57 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:33,240 corresponding divots in its thick copper base. It was a nightmare to manufacture, 58 00:04:30,639 --> 00:04:39,520 making it very expensive. And its performance, while superior on bare 59 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:44,720 small die single core processors, fell quickly behind as dual core and quad 60 00:04:42,479 --> 00:04:51,840 core CPUs with integrated heat spreaders became the norm. The story behind 2006's 61 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:55,360 Appleo G was less about raw performance 62 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:58,400 with 1°ree Celsius being optimistic and 63 00:04:55,360 --> 00:05:02,240 more about optimizing for enthusiast CPU 64 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:05,280 design trends and ease of manufacturing. 65 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:08,000 Thanks to the relatively simple uniform 66 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:12,800 diamond pin matrix in its copper base, it was less restrictive, contributing to 67 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:17,520 better liquid flow rates for multiblock loops. It handled and continues to 68 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:22,320 handle large CPU dyes with heat spreaders better than the Storm. And 69 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:29,280 thanks to its cheap injection molded acetal top, it was one of, if not the 70 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:34,479 first legitimately mass-roduced CPU water coolers. This right here, this 71 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:39,600 exact one, was my first block when I got into water cooling about 10 years ago. 72 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:45,199 The followup, the Appleo GT, looks outwardly identical to the Apoge, but 73 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:50,080 thanks to manufacturing improvements and an enthusiast inspired tweak to bow out 74 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:55,240 the base with a thicker O-ring to compensate for Intel's less than stellar 75 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:58,880 IHS flatness. It boasts slightly better 76 00:05:55,240 --> 00:06:00,479 performance, not Swift 1 to3° C from our 77 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:04,960 measurement, but I'll comment more on that in a moment. The Apoge GTX, 78 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:10,000 released shortly afterward, was basically a hot rod version of the Apple 79 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,759 GT with the same copper base plate and 80 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:18,479 then marketing that was focused more on the cool looking aluminum top 81 00:06:14,759 --> 00:06:20,240 that Oho ho. I guess that's probably why 82 00:06:18,479 --> 00:06:26,560 I couldn't find a working one for this video. Don't mix your metals, kids. 83 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:28,240 Moving on, the Apple GT Z brought about 84 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:33,919 significant improvements in manufacturing that allowed the small 85 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:42,960 diamond pins of the Apple GT to be shrunk to only 250 microns for a claimed 86 00:06:38,479 --> 00:06:46,000 performance gain of 2 1/2°. Holy crap. 87 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:48,800 Too bad on our 6850K, it really didn't 88 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:54,880 amount to much. But back to my earlier comment about these disparities that are 89 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:57,680 starting to pop up. The GTZ design was 90 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:04,319 as much about optimizing for the die orientation of Intel's then flagship 91 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:06,000 QX6700 quad core as about anything else. 92 00:07:04,319 --> 00:07:13,120 A trend that we're likely to see continue. The Apogee X-T from 2009 was, 93 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:15,479 from what we can measure, the last big 94 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:20,720 step forward in CPU water block performance. Sure, it was kind of 95 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:22,880 restrictive, but it looked amazing. And 96 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:30,560 thanks to its redesigned upper housing with the inlet centered over a much 97 00:07:26,319 --> 00:07:33,840 larger 250 micron pin matrix, it crushed 98 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:36,360 its predecessor with our numbers nearly 99 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:42,560 backing Swift claim of a 3°ree improvement. as long as you had a 100 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:45,039 whopping $80 to spare. Apogee HD, which 101 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:51,599 followed two full years later, rocked tweak 225 micron pins, 30% lower flow 102 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:56,800 restriction to improve GPU block performance, and according to Swift, 2° 103 00:07:54,639 --> 00:08:01,039 better temps. Though, I suspect we'd have to pull a 3960X or something out of 104 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:05,280 our hats to observe the specific optimizations that were done to achieve 105 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:09,599 that result. I'm actually still happily running a limited edition gold-plated 106 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:14,960 Apogee HD in my personal rig. Which leads us then finally, sorry we got lazy 107 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:20,560 and skipped the Apogee XL to the Apogee XL 2, the current flagship block that is 108 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:28,240 only available as part of Swift's H220 and H320 X2 kits. It features the same 109 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:30,160 225 micron fin/pin base plate as the XL, 110 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:34,880 but tweaks the inlet and outlet design of the top cover for improved flow 111 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:39,839 characteristics. SwiftTech claims about a degree and a half of performance over 112 00:08:36,719 --> 00:08:41,599 the HD, but we saw a mere half a degree 113 00:08:39,839 --> 00:08:46,800 improvement in spite of the five-year-old design of the HD on a 114 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:50,800 modern processor, leading me to believe that most of the performance to be 115 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:55,360 gained with future water blocks will come from compensating for the weird 116 00:08:53,040 --> 00:09:00,880 idiosyncrasies that Intel introduces with each processor generation rather 117 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:05,839 than pure thermal transfer improvements. Though, I will be interested to see if 118 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:11,440 the prototype SKF block that Swift Tech showed me at CES will change my mind. 119 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:16,320 The fins on that sucker are so small that they can only be produced by 120 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:20,560 shaving copper and bending it up into little tiny fins. Maybe there will be 121 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:24,560 another leap forward after all. I'll be sure to update you in another 10 years 122 00:09:22,399 --> 00:09:27,600 or so. So, thanks for watching, guys. If you liked this video, hit that like 123 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:33,680 button. If you disliked it, you can, of course, hit the dislike button. But if it was awesome, get 124 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:36,640 subscribed, hit the like button. Okay, I did this out of order. Or click that 125 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:41,360 link to where to buy the stuff we featured at Amazon in the video description. Also linked in the 126 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:44,480 description is our merch store, which has cool shirts like this one and our 127 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:48,880 community forum, which you should totally join. Now that you're done doing all that stuff, you're probably 128 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:53,040 wondering what to watch next. 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