 This video is brought to you by our trusted partner Intel. For a limited time only with the purchase of any unlocked Core i5 or Core i7 Intel CPU, get a free Intel beanie with a chance to win an Intel snowboard. Valid for Canadian and US customers only, some restrictions apply. For complete details, visit IntelGamingPromo.com. Welcome to my full product overview of the Swift Tech H220 Liquid Cooler. So this is an all-in-one liquid cooling kit, sort of. Because unlike the other ones out there, it is fully expandable and uses high performance components. So by high performance components, I mean a Swift Tech designed baseplate, I mean a high powered pump that is capable of running multiple radiators, multiple blocks, 3 eighths inch tubing that can be replaced and upgraded and added to, and a copper fin radiator rather than the aluminum fin radiators that competitors are using. It also comes with Swift Tech's Helix fans, pre-attached, so installation is a snap. You basically just take the thing and then screw some fans into your dual 120mm mount, and you are pretty much ready to go. Upgrades and maintenance can be performed via the fill port here on the radiator itself, so that acts as a reservoir while the pump is built into the CPU block. Swift Tech does a great job with their mounting mechanisms as always, so it comes pre-ready for you, although we've taken it off now at this point because we've tested it, and it comes with screws for LGA 2011 to go directly into the backplate on your motherboard, as well as a backplate and additional mounting screws for the other Intel sockets. You even get an AMD bracket included, yay! And it's not like a cheesy AMD bracket that's sort of weird compared to everything else. So there's been a lot of hubbub about the H220, which is why we're releasing this review a little bit out of order. We've filmed some other ones already, but we want to get this one out to you guys. How does it actually perform? So let's start with introducing our standard test bench and methodology. So we have a Corsair C70 case that we close up all the side panels on, and then we measure ambient temperature using our thermometer at the intake, so that gives us a good idea of what the room temperatures are like. Well, not a good idea, an exact idea of what the room temperatures are like. We use a GTX 580 to generate a heat load because we don't want to give the CPU cooler any unnecessary advantages that it would get on an open test platform. We're pretending this is a real case with a real gaming rig inside, which means there's other heat generating components. So we run this with Combustor for our load test, and then we leave it idle for our idle test. We have a 3930k CPU. We've chosen that for a number of reasons. Intel really is the platform of choice for most enthusiasts out there right now, and the fact that it's a 6-core processor means that it generates, oh yeah, overclocked too, means that it generates a ton of heat load and allows us to really differentiate the coolers for you guys, so you know which ones are genuinely better. We use IC Diamond thermal compound on all the coolers to eliminate as many variables as we can, and also in the spirit of variable elimination, we test all coolers with Noctua NF-F12 fans using their 7-volt adapters. The reason for this is that we were able to get the system to a noise level that we feel is appropriate, and we can actually listen to it there, Slick. That is a quiet gaming rig. And then we know how, at a noise level that we appreciate, that cooler will actually perform. So let's move along to sort of the performance numbers here, which is right here. So our idle temperatures, I have no idea what you're talking about. We use a boom mic for the audio test. A boom mic on the camera that Slick stuck the camera into the case to... Thank you. Because usually you use a lapel. Yeah. Okay, so idle temps. Because we were curious how Swift Tech's Helix fans performed, because we'd never really used them before, we decided to run the Swift Tech H220 at full pump speed with the stock fans to see how it performed. It was right in there with an air cooler and some single 120mm and single 90mm radiators, so we were a little concerned about that. However, when we ran it with NF-F12s, we got some of the best idle temperatures that we've ever seen, even when we turned the pump down to a fraction of its full speed, making it near silent. The pump was a little bit on the louds... Well, the pump was loud when it was running at full speed, but the good news is you don't have to. Now let's head into load temperatures. So when we say correct it to 20 degrees, the reason we say that is because we run all of our fans at a fixed RPM, so basically, if the room temperature goes up 5 degrees, the CPU temperature will go up exactly 5 degrees. If you want to know how our setup is going to perform where you live, measure your room temperature and then just add or minus 2. So this is sort of standard room temperature. Now into the juicy load temperature results, guys. So the first thing we noticed about the load temperatures was the H220 at full speed with the stock fans was among the least performing of the coolers that we've tested in the past, right down there with, you know, single 120mm radiator coolers and even our Silver Arrow Extreme air cooler. So that was very disappointing. It was also quite loud with the pump at full speed. So what we didn't necessarily realize at the time was the H220 needs a little bit of TLC and optimization, and once you do that, it destroys everything else. So with full pump speed, again, the pump speed was, you know, full pump speed was a little on the loud side for our taste, but a lot of people probably wouldn't care. It was the best performing cooler on our test bed by a significant margin. We attribute this to the copper radiator as well as the much, much better CPU block that Swift Tech integrates. I mean, a CPU block can make a 5 degree difference, and then a copper radiator versus an aluminum radiator is worth a couple degrees as well there, so that's very exciting to see. And we were even more excited to see that when we turned the pump down, it was still our top performing cooler by a good 4 degree margin. So we can explain the rest of the results pretty easily as well. The Water 2.0 has a thicker radiator than the H100i, which is why it performs better even though it's a dual 120. The H110 uses a dual 140mm rad, so that's why that performs better than an H100i. An H100i is pretty standard. It performs about the same as any other dual 120mm radiator cooler, a touch better, plus you get coarser Link software, and I think that pretty much covers it. So in conclusion, the H220, if you make the correct optimizations, which is to turn down the pump, which is easy, you can use your motherboard pump control, CPU fan control utility to just turn that baby down, and if you get some awesome fans to put on it, in our case, NFF12s from Noctua, which are freaking awesome, it is far and away the best pre-done liquid cooler that you can put on your CPU. And it has the advantage of actually being able to be expanded with multiple blocks when you're ready for it in the future. Thanks for checking out this video on Linus Tech Tips. What? Tube length. Oh, the tube, oh yeah, okay. Slick wanted me to mention that the stock tube length is a little bit on the long side, and he's right, if you come look at it. They're pretty long. I mean, the good news is, well, it doesn't even look that long when you put it on this side, but you had it on the other side before, and that was a bit of a, like they were sticking out, like that. The good news about those tubes, though, is it's as simple as cutting them, putting them back together, and you can have exactly the length you need. So I would rather, Swift Tech, where you can actually adjust it, err on the side of tubes that are too long than err on the side of tubes that are not long enough. Thanks for watching Linus Tech Tips, and don't forget to subscribe.