Gizmo

Introduction

A few months ago, Swiftech™ acquired the manufacturing rights from well-known Australian engineer Stew Forster (AKA Cathar) for his extraordinarily efficient Storm G4 water-block. The resulting product combines Swiftech's manufacturing know-how and attention to detail, and brings you the most advanced water-block ever produced by Swiftech™: STORM, the new flagship cooler.

STORM has been designed by and for the die-hard enthusiast user. The body is high-precision machined out of Delrin™, a rugged Acetal resin chosen for its long term mechanical stability, and the base plate is made of C110 copper lapped to +/- 0.0003" flatness. Cosmetics have not been forgotten either, and the universal hold-down plate features a beautiful chrome finish contrasting with the black body.


System design recommendations

The cooling "engine" of the Storm is a pure jet impingement design. It uses 35 mini jets directing high velocity coolant into individually matching cups. In the designer's own words: "the Storm design implements jet disruptors to turbulate incoming jets prior to striking the cup's base". Swiftech fine-tuned the design to yield slightly better performance than the original in terms of thermal and flow resistance.

While this design yields performance nominally equivalent to the MCW6000 series water-blocks in systems flowing 0.75GPM or less, it really starts shining in the 1 GPM and above range. In other words, system designers should pay particular attention to the overall system flow rate when integrating the Storm water-block. In this context for example, using 3/8" ID tubing and the MCP350 pump is possible, and will yield very good results, but using 1/2" ID tubing and a high flow pump such as the MCP650 will yield the best possible performance from the Storm water-block (providing other components do not heavily restrict the overall system flow rate).


Performance data

The STORM was tested in Swiftech's labs, and is compared to the MCW6002™ series of waterblock. Please find the associated graphs on the right.

Pressure Drop vs. Flow Rate

It can be seen that the pressure drop of the Storm is considerably greater that the MCW6002 at equal flow rates. The next graph shows the thermal resistance (C/W) of the two waterblocks again at equal flow rates.

Thermal Resistance vs. Flow Rate

Here it is clear that the Storm has lower thermal resistance at all flow rates above ~0.4gpm. The above two graphs can be combined to illustrate the pressure drop / thermal resistance relationship.

Thermal Resistance vs. Pressure Drop

From this it can be seen that the MCW6002 can provide better cooling than the Storm where the pump pressure is low. At typical pump pressures the Storm is superior. Another way to consider the relationship between the waterblock's thermal resistance and the pump capability is to plot the hydraulic resistance, which is literally the work that the pump must do.

Thermal Resistance vs. Hydraulic Power

As in the graph, with a limited capability pump such a small aquarium pump, the MCW6002 would be preferred, and for all other applications the Storm becomes the solution of choice.

Test Equipment and procedures

A Kepco linear power supply was used as the source for a 100w heat load with an industry standard die.

The coolant temperature of 30°C was controlled with a Haake chiller and circulation using a Little Giant pump with control valves. Flow rates were measured with a Rosemount magnetic flow meter and temperatures with Fluke thermometers.

The coolant was distilled water with 5% HydrX added. An ambient temperature of 30°C was maintained with a Forma Scientific environmental chamber.

Waterblocks were mounted using 'BillA Goop' with a 50lbf load and permitted to settle for 2.5 hours before collecting data. Each flow rate setting was held for 1/4 hour to ensure that the system was at equilibrium. The complete test series was conducted multiple times for each waterblock until it was established that the optimum mounting method was known and that the variation between mountings was minimal (typically +/- 0.1°C die temperature).

Compatibility and retention mechanism

The Storm is essentially meant as a universal waterblock It ships with all the necessary hardware for the following processor sockets:

socket 478 (Intel® Pentium® 4),
socket 775 (Pentium® 4 "Prescott"),socket 603/604 (Intel® Xeon™ - 400 & 533 Mhz FSB),socket 462 (AMD® Athlon®, Duron®, MP, XP),socket 754, 939, 940 (AMD® 64 bit processors).

Two sets of Nylon hose barbs are included with the device: 3/8" and 1/2".

Removal of the motherboard is necessary to install the mounting posts in all cases, except with AMD® Athlon™ 64 and Opteron™ (socket 754, 939 and 940).

Specifications

Upper body: CNC machined Delrin® AcetalInlet and outlet straight threaded ports to 1/4" NPSM standard.Lower body: CNC machined Delrin® Acetal, with 35 mini jetsBase plate: CNC machined C110 copper, lapped to +/- 0.0003"Universal hold-down plateBody O-ring: (2) 2.5 width x 50mm ID BunaNylon Fittings: 1/4" NPSM to 3/8" or 1/2" barbsFitting O-ring: (2) EPDM O-ring AS568A Dash Number 112Base plate dimensions: 2" x 3" (50.8 x 76.2 mm)Assembly weight: : 9.2 oz (260 g)

Included Parts:

Assembly including waterblock, hold-down plate, retention hardware for Intel socket 478 (Intel® Pentium® 4), socket 775 (Pentium® 4 "Prescott"), socket 603-604 (Intel® Xeon™), socket 462 (AMD® Athlon®, Duron®, XP, MP), socket 754, 939, 940 (AMD® 64 bit processors), two sets of hose barbs (3/8" & 1/2"), installation guide.http://www.frozencpu.com/ex-blc-204.html?id=wtDYasKx