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Swiftech MCP350™ 12 VDC Pump
Seeing as how water-cooling has really
become mainstream, the pioneers of the industry still must remain the
yardsticks from which to measure good performance. Quite often I have
seen people buy anything that mentions PC cooling with water, and its
sad to se them buying anything that is just cheap. Of course they are
able to gain nothing but a bit of quiet. I guess you get what you pay
for, but what if you could find a reasonably priced kit that gave you
the kind of plug and play, no hassle performance you've wanted from an
alternate form of cooling, like water? Well you've got it. Swiftech has
not only started putting their water-cooling systems in mainstream
computers like Alienware, but they have been doing it for a REALLY long
time. Of course this is a review of their pump, but this pump is the
heart of most, if not all of their ready-made systems, so we figured
lets throw it in a 3 block dual bay reservoir loop and see if it can
hold its own.
Specifications
Small Footprint: 2.4" x 2.4" x 1.5"
50,000 hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) equivalent to 5 years
lifetime.
Superior 12 Volts DC convenience: plugs into the computer power supply
The MCP350™ can be used with full confidence in any MP servers, and
high-end workstations.
Superior real world performance thanks to its high pressure
characteristics (13ft of head). The MCP350™ is particularly well adapted
to the proliferation of daisy-chained liquid cooling devices in a single
circuit: Multiple Processors, Chipset, Graphics, and Hard Drives.
Quiet Operation thanks to brushless motor: 24 to 26 dBA
3/8" barb fittings.
No maintenance when used with de-mineralized water, and anti-fungal
additives (Our HydrX™ additive is recommended)
Quick installation with adhesive neoprene pad, or permanent installation
with screws and grommets.
RPM sensor plugs to 3 pin motherboard fan connectors and reports
impeller rotational speed (effective 1-24-05)
Technical specifications
Nominal voltage
12 V DC
Operating voltage range
9 to 13.2 VDC
Nominal power (@ 12 V)
8.3 W
Nominal current (@ 12 V)
0.69 amps
Nominal head (@ 12 V)
13.05 ft (4 m)
Nominal discharge (@ 12 V)
~ 92.4 GPH (350 LPH)
Connection size
3/8" barbs (10mm)
Maximum pressure
22 PSI (1.5 BAR)
Temperature range
Up to 140°F (60°C)
Electrical connector
Molex 4 pin
Weight
7.3 oz (207 gr.)
Our noise measurement (non lab environment)
24 ~ 26 dBA in a quiet room @ 2'
Motor type
Electronically commutated, brushless DC, spherical motor
Pump MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
50,000 Hours
RPM Sensor
3 pin connector
Features
What you see is what you get. The MCP350 is essentially a replacement
part or an upgrade so I consider it a complete kit since they were so
kind as to give us some double-sided sticky tape. Instructions are also
included.
More evidence of Swiftech's care in this
kit. The foam backing is hardly needed since the pump is so small and
compact it hardly vibrates at all. Of course vibration is to be expected
Throw the backing on the
pump and you're good to go. This thing fits anywhere!
The little Swiftech pump
rests nicely on a Coolermaster case. Even the side cover clears the low
height of the MCP350.
Conclusion
The Swiftech MCP350 does a really great job at cooling. It was
2.3-3C higher than the DangerDen D-$ pump that I pitted against it at
idle conditions, and just 5C higher under load. I would say that this
pump is more than capable of performing well under stress! Our test
system consisted of a Soltek K890 board, and Winchester 3500 at 1.6v,
but it also had 3 blocks, and a dual bay reservoir! For the amount of
liquid this little pump had to push that makes it even more impressive!
I'd say the only nitpicking things I can pick out is that the wires
are not sleeved, and it only comes in a 3/8 ID size. This meant that we
had to conjure up some adapters to fit to our 1/2 ID tubing.
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Club
Overclocker Rating |
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Innovation: |
10
out of 10 |
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Performance: |
8.5 out of 10 |
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Quality: |
9.0 out of 10 |
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Stability: |
9.0 out of 10 |
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Overclocking: |
N/A |
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Software Pack: |
N/A |
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Value: |
9.5 out of 10 |
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Overall Rating 9.0 |
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Skill Level |
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Project Skill Level
(10 being hardest) |
5
out of 10 |
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