Apogee GTX

[Bun-Bun]

I actually agree with you (except the whole leaving part)....kind of insulted though, meh

Fact is this block is extremely likely to be the highest performance block out there and the plating on the aluminum should not be an issue.

If someone doesn't like the look, that's one reason to not buy it, but damn don't slander the whole damn block and company.

And yeah, with the CEO corresponding in public about the decisions that went into it, please show some respect toward him. If nothing else he is an XIP of this forum and is due respect.

Thing is I like the look. Would love to see this block with something other then Aluminum like Maxxxracer is suggesting so that I may purchase one. I liked the Fuzion over the GT but wished that swiftech had something that appealed to me more. And the GTX is the answer to that except it contains aluminum. So sorry that I feel a little strongly about it. If I was the only one complaing about aluminum then maybe I would rethink my stand. But obviously there is a concern that has been overlooked. All I ask is that concern be considdered in another method then just covering up the problem with plating. You can dress a rock with gold... but its still a rock. (sorry for the lame analogy... I can't think of better atm...)

[Vapor]

And what if I was a CEO of a company. Would you give me respect even though you don't know who I am and am not clearly stating my reasonings?

CEO of the company in the discussion? Absolutely. Respect is one thing there's no reason to not give until someone 'wrongs' you. Chances are it will help the discussion anyway.

i really want to see some performance comparison charts to other blocks

I think we all are awaiting performance results from a trusted 3rd party

[Bun-Bun]

CEO of the company in the discussion? Absolutely. Respect is one thing there's no reason to not give until someone 'wrongs' you.

I disagree. respect is something that is earned. Gabe has not earned it with me inrespect to this block.

However that does not mean disrespect is in order either, and I apologize if some of what I said was taken as slander. Not what I intended.

[Philly_Boy]

Sheesh, guys the block has not even been out a week yet and everyone wants hard and fast data...*smiles* Why not buy the block and compare it yourself to what you're using now? If we all do that then i am sure some concensus will be achieved.

[Vapor]

Sheesh, guys the block has not even been out a week yet and everyone wants hard and fast data...*smiles*

You betcha Heck, you know just about everyone here wants performance figures of Barcelona,Penryn and/or R600,R700,G90,G100, etc

At least this product is out

Why not buy the block and compare it yourself to what you're using now? If we all do that then i am sure some concensus will be achieved.

.....tempting me to get back into watercooling? Wish I could

[ranker]

You know, if this means it'll be the best new cpu block I'm gonna be pissed. I spent $250 on the swiftech h20 kit to get the Apogee GT. Then 2 weeks ago, everyone was proclaiming the d-tek fusion to be king of the hill. And now people are saying the GTX is best... man that's like $250 on new CPU blocks within a month!

[grudgelord]

I am actually rather surprised that brass only costs 2.5 times that of aluminum. Having done some small bit of metal work over the past ten years or so it has been my experience that brass is freaking expensive. Of course I, admittedly, wasn't purchasing in production quantities. Nevertheless, it's significantly more costly than aluminum.

It's also important to bear in mind the machining costs of brass over aluminum. Brass is significantly harder than aluminum (and it ruins files rather quickly) so the milling process is going to be more expensive due to component wear, thus increasing the cost of manufacture. I'd guess that that $75.00 block would top 100.00 pretty quickly.

Now some protest has arisen from the GTX's higher price tag when compared to the GT. While delrin might or might not be an expensive polymer I'm confidently certain that, once again, we are looking at an additional cost of milling aluminum, not to mention the etching and plating process. Any all-metal block is going to get expensive pretty quick. Even steel, which should be cheaper than aluminum (and no I'm not suggesting a steel top), depending on the grade, would likely become to expensive due to milling costs.

Another thing to keep in mind is that watercooling, while becoming more popular, is not so ubiquitous that Swiftech is producing enough volume to reduce the per-unit cost down to anything that would be considered reasonable by the man-on-the-street. This is still a very specialized niche market.

As for the concerns over corrosion? Who doesn't pull their loop apart so often that they wouldn't catch it in the unlikely event that it did occur? I'm interested in the block and, while it's not what I'd have designed I think it looks nice enough. I'm going to give it a try. If my loop rots out then I'll send Swiftech a nastygram, kick myself for my foolishness and consider taking my business elsewhere. But I truly don't expect that to be the case.

Oh yea, I think Edelbroick valve covers look like crap and I their carburetors are POS. Guess it's a good thing that I don't really feel that the GTX bears any resemblance or confuse my PC with my car, huh?

Now, assuming we can prevent the coolant from freezing, how well do you think this block would perform in outer space? [ducks]

[serialk11r]

I am actually rather surprised that brass only costs 2.5 times that of aluminum. Having done some small bit of metal work over the past ten years or so it has been my experience that brass is freaking expensive. Of course I, admittedly, wasn't purchasing in production quantities. Nevertheless, it's significantly more costly than aluminum.

It's also important to bear in mind the machining costs of brass over aluminum. Brass is significantly harder than aluminum (and it ruins files rather quickly) so the milling process is going to be more expensive due to component wear, thus increasing the cost of manufacture. I'd guess that that $75.00 block would top 100.00 pretty quickly.

Now some protest has arisen from the GTX's higher price tag when compared to the GT. While delrin might or might not be an expensive polymer I'm confidently certain that, once again, we are looking at an additional cost of milling aluminum, not to mention the etching and plating process. Any all-metal block is going to get expensive pretty quick. Even steel, which should be cheaper than aluminum (and no I'm not suggesting a steel top), depending on the grade, would likely become to expensive due to milling costs.

Another thing to keep in mind is that watercooling, while becoming more popular, is not so ubiquitous that Swiftech is producing enough volume to reduce the per-unit cost down to anything that would be considered reasonable by the man-on-the-street. This is still a very specialized niche market.

As for the concerns over corrosion? Who doesn't pull their loop apart so often that they wouldn't catch it in the unlikely event that it did occur? I'm interested in the block and, while it's not what I'd have designed I think it looks nice enough. I'm going to give it a try. If my loop rots out then I'll send Swiftech a nastygram, kick myself for my foolishness and consider taking my business elsewhere. But I truly don't expect that to be the case.

Oh yea, I think Edelbroick valve covers look like crap and I their carburetors are POS. Guess it's a good thing that I don't really feel that the GTX bears any resemblance or confuse my PC with my car, huh?

Now, assuming we can prevent the coolant from freezing, how well do you think this block would perform in outer space? [ducks]

Wait a moment, Dangerden only charges 6 bucks over the whole block for a brass top! And that's 6 bucks over an acrylic top. And acrylic is much much cheaper than delrin. Brass is much more expensive than aluminum..

[grudgelord]

Wait a moment, Dangerden only charges 6 bucks over the whole block for a brass top! And that's 6 bucks over an acrylic top. And acrylic is much much cheaper than delrin. Brass is much more expensive than aluminum..

Hmm, You raise a good point. I dunno why this is the case. Could have something to do with reduced material cost from a volume supplier or maybe DD decided on a reduced margin on the brass tops (or created a "loss leader"). It is possible that the block's cost was based upon the brass design and DD collects a significantly larger margin on the acrylic model or maybe they sacrifice small creatures at midnight while chanting over the brass.

It wasn't my intention to come off authoritarian on the matter, just a series of educated guesses based upon various experiences. I'll admit, the finer points of production economics are beyond my ken but I'm confident that my analysis is sound even if my hard figures are bovine-poo. I could have easily misjudged the degree of impact that various production forces have.

Hell doing TCO/TCU and lifecycle analysis gives me fits so, like anything anyone else says, take what I say with a grain of salt.