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Swiftech MCW80 — new GPU universal waterblock

MCW80 differs form its predecessor by having a nicer look and better performance

Swiftech company decided to release a new version of MCW60 universal GPU waterblock. MCW80 differs form its predecessor by having a nicer look and better performance:

Swiftech MCW80

The housing of the waterblock is made of Black Derlin:

Swiftech MCW80 housing

MCW80 uses advanced pin matrix base that was borrowed from company’s top CPU waterblock Swiftech Apogee XT:

Apogee XT base

In addition to outstanding performance, MCW80 retains the same form factor as its predecessor, MCW60. Waterblock is compatible with the majority of graphic cards due to a host of adapter brackets legacy of the MCW60. New mounting hardware will be released as soon as new graphic cards appear on the market.

Since many video cards require additional active cooling of the power elements, memory chips etc., Swiftech offers two possible solutions to cool these elements:

  • Full cover heatsinks are available to cool the most popular reference design models. These low cost heatsinks are compatible with the MCW80 form factor, and as users upgrade their graphics card, they can retain the MCW80 while only replacing the heatsink
  • Individual ramsinks such as the MC14 are another convenient method to cool surface-mount components in non-reference models or for those models that are not compatible with the full cover heatsinks

According to Swiftech, MCW80 outperforms MCW60 by 1-4°С depending on GPU model and heat loads.
The manufacturer also demonstrates Pressure drop graph of the new arrival compared to fullcover waterblcok:

Pressure drop compared

Still, the manufacturer is cunning by not showing the direct Pressure drop comparison of new MCW80 versus MCW60.

Swiftech universal waterblock compatibility chart (Reference Design Boards Only)

Hold downPackageManufacturerPre-2009 Series2009 to present Series
Factory DefaultIncl.ATI Single GPURadeon™ 1800, 1900, 3800 seriesRadeon™ 4800, 5800 series
CSK kitOption.ATI Dual GPUn/aRadeon HD 4870, HD 5970
Factory DefaultIncl.NVIDIA Single GPUGeForce 6, 7, 8 (G92) seriesn/a
GT200 kitIncl.NVIDIA Single GPUGeForce 9 seriesGeForce 200 series
G80 KitOption.NVIDIA Single GPUGeForce 8 (G80) seriesGeForce 400 series
GT400 KitOption.NVIDIA Single GPUn/aGeForce 400 series

Swiftech MCW80 detailed dimensions

MCW80 — detailed dimensions

Swiftech MCW80 — detailed dimensions

Recommended manufacturer’s price is set to $56.95, the package includes waterblock, mounting hardware for the latest graphic card model (as listed in the table above), 1/2″ chrome plated bards, Arctic Céramique thermal compound and installation guide.

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