Cooling Specification II
RadiatorThe radiator (heat exchanger) is what finally gets rid of the heat dumped to the water via the waterblocks. Pumped water passing over the blocks is carried round the system to the radiator where it's passed from the metal fins on the radiator to the air and then exhausted/blown off by the fans on the radiator (the afore mentioned pair of 34dBA 120mm fans pushing 55cfm each).
The radiator is mounted securely to the back of the case near the ATX I/O shield.
As you can see, it's a large radiator, slightly longer than 240mm and attached to the fans on the inside of the case (picture soon). The case is professionally drilled out and the holes surrounded so that the soft piping can be safely routed into and out of the case without fear of being slit on sharp cut steel.
Here's a quick shot of the interior of the case showing the 2 fans on the back side of the radiator.
Pump and Filling Mechanism
Swiftech's product literature doesn't give the exact model of pump used in their FS020 systems and access to the pump in its little corner of the case is limited.
There is no reservior to speak of, the whole closed loop system is in effect its own reservoir. While common sense dictates a large volume of water has more capacity for heat than a smaller volume, if you can remove it effectively at the heat exchanger, you wont have any problems and this is what Swiftech does with the FS020.
The pump mechanism is quite clever. You plug a 240v (or whatever is relevant for your locale) source via a regular kettle cable into the pump controller (see the first picture on this page for the plug itself) and then via a simple relay system powered by a 12V source you suppply from a molex connector on your PSU the pump is automatically powered on and off when you operate your main PSU control to turn your machine on and off. A good friend of mine (hi De|ta!) has been running a similar system on his water rig for a while and it's simple and very effective. Here you can see the relay system.
The system arrives prefilled with coolant but bleeding and filling couldn't be simpler. There's a 3 valve system in the top of the case that gives you access to the coolant and you get full instructions on valve position, how to operate the pump without your PC being on and a length of flexible pipe to attach to the top of the valves to help you get coolant in and out of the closed system.
