Installation

The installation of the waterblock on the motherboard is easy enough. Using a proper back plate, the installation doesn’t differ much from that of most aftermarket air coolers. The back plate is held in place by double sided tape found at its centre, which is strong and might give you trouble should you try to remove it. After the back plate is attached properly at the rear of the motherboard you merely have to place a thin layer of thermal paste on your CPU, place the Apogee waterblock on the CPU and screw it down in place.

While we proceeded with the installation of our motherboard inside the case, our problems began. To begin with, the screws provided with the kit meant to mount the fan on the radiator are way too short. So short that they cannot reach to the other side of the fan itself, let alone secure it on the radiator. We solved this problem easily by using our own screws; however someone who might not have much hardware in his/her house might be left frustrated.

Unfortunately that’s not all. The radiator is considerably larger than the square 120mm fan and wouldn’t fit in our case, restricted by the top support bar. We had to transfer to another case without a support bar in order to test the system and even then the PSU had to be removed while we were filling up the system. Because of the radiator’s design, it would be much more convenient to install it at the outside of the case with the exhaust fan blowing through it. But even that would be a problem for us, as the provided tubes were too short for them to reach to the inside of the case. You can buy longer tubes directly from Swiftech or from a store with medical and research equipment should you need to mount the radiator further than the rear exhaust hole.