Swiftech Releases Komodo HD5800 F/C Waterblock For ATI

[CthulpiSS]

Gabe,
could you please give me accurate dimension of this part:



I'm afraid it may be hard to fit this nice block in my cube case
(I have PSU hanging just above graphic card)

[gabe]

Gabe,
could you please give me accurate dimension of this part:



I'm afraid it may be hard to fit this nice block in my cube case
(I have PSU hanging just above graphic card)

0.97" (24.7mm)

[Philwong]

Gabe

First off, thumbs up for the excellent service rendered by your staff, Michelle, on my recent purchase of the Komodo 5800.

I would like to share some feedbacks on the actual product.


I love the chrome plating for that polished look. Factory installed standoffs and thermal pads are additional pros for hassle-free installation.



That said, the finishing of my block can definitely be better. For starters, the base is not as smooth as I hope. Furthermore, one of the inlet/outlet holes is chipped with loose bits of acetal. Lastly, you may like to consider throwing in the allen key in the package as standard, too.

This is about the first time I encountered such an issue after using Swiftech products since the Apogee days. Hopefully, this is just an isolated case.

I do sincerely hope that the cost cutting measure of shifting production to China will not hurt the quality, as well as reputation of your offerings. Please take my feedback positively as I really like Swiftech watercooling components.

Phil

[Main]

This looks like the Chinasyndrome Philwong - seen it happen on numerous occassions before when the western world companies moves their production to third world countries. These countries always use time to sort out their qc sorted out - meanwhile the products are beeing shipped out and the owners are sitting there with crossed fingers hoping things is ok.

This whole mess is caused by customers that want to pay as little as possibly for the products, shareholders that wants to earn money and so on. It's pretty complex.

I would easily pay 2-3 times more for my cooling gear if I knew it was produced in a western country and beeing "Rolls Royce" products.

I would like to see watercooling blocks for dual GPU cards with possibility for separate loops, likewise small effective pumps aka C Systems pumps for these setups. And 140 mm quad,triple and quad radiators with four inlets and outlets - this will make my day

EDIT: I don't belive that the pinmatrix in the picture below is produced in a high end cnc mill :p

[warriorpoet]

...
EDIT: I don't belive that the pinmatrix in the picture below is produced in a high end cnc mill :p

Yeah, I was kinda surprised to see that photo up on their site.

[Main]

Yeah, I was kinda surprised to see that photo up on their site.

jupp I will call it a headshot - I work with these things and know wery well the Chinasyndrome.

But as said - Swiftech is one of my favorite producers - I would hate to see them go down the drain. IT MUST NOT HAPPEN !

[gabe]

Gabe

First off, thumbs up for the excellent service rendered by your staff, Michelle, on my recent purchase of the Komodo 5800.

I would like to share some feedbacks on the actual product.


I love the chrome plating for that polished look. Factory installed standoffs and thermal pads are additional pros for hassle-free installation.



That said, the finishing of my block can definitely be better. For starters, the base is not as smooth as I hope. Furthermore, one of the inlet/outlet holes is chipped with loose bits of acetal. Lastly, you may like to consider throwing in the allen key in the package as standard, too.

This is about the first time I encountered such an issue after using Swiftech products since the Apogee days. Hopefully, this is just an isolated case.

I do sincerely hope that the cost cutting measure of shifting production to China will not hurt the quality, as well as reputation of your offerings. Please take my feedback positively as I really like Swiftech watercooling components.

Phil

I do appreciate the criticism, it helps us do better, but I'd also like to get some operational feed-back. Have you tested the board yet? Let's see some temps and overclocks!

Base finish: I've asked our CNC guy to modify the tool path on the surface finish operation over the GPU to a circular pattern. Hopefully we can start implementing this in the next production batches.

Thread burs: totally concur. Been asking my ppl to be careful with this, and it looks like I'm going have to yell louder this time.

Allen wrench: OK

Cost cutting measures: these days, most if not all of the components in our PC's are made somewhere in Asia. If we want to stay in business, we have no choice but to make things over there. The toughest part for small American businesses when shifting production to Asia is to create a quality culture within the organization. As usual, it boils down to picking the right individuals to do the job, train them right, and keep pushing for perfection.

[warriorpoet]

I do appreciate the criticism, it helps us do better, but I'd also like to get some operational feed-back. Have you tested the board yet? Let's see some temps and overclocks!

Base finish: I've asked our CNC guy to modify the tool path on the surface finish operation over the GPU to a circular pattern. Hopefully we can start implementing this in the next production batches.

Thread burs: totally concur. Been asking my ppl to be careful with this, and it looks like I'm going have to yell louder this time.

Allen wrench: OK

Cost cutting measures: these days, most if not all of the components in our PC's are made somewhere in Asia. If we want to stay in business, we have no choice but to make things over there. The toughest part for small American businesses when shifting production to Asia is to create a quality culture within the organization. As usual, it boils down to picking the right individuals to do the job, train them right, and keep pushing for perfection.

gabe,

I love what your company does. Y'all innovate like mad, listen to your customers and adjust according to end-user feedback in a way few others do. I also appreciate the realities of the modern design and manufacturing business.

Here's the way I see the perceived quality issue: you operate in a unique, high-expectation marketplace where perception is reality. to compound the problem, most water-coolers do it as a hobby or view it as a luxury. The problem is, even if your micropin bases perform like crazy (and all testing I've seen confirms this), the visual flaws bring up quality concerns that may or may not be warranted from a performance standpoint.

Where far-East manufacturing is concerned, I've seen some AMAZING machining done, so the country of origin is absolutely a non-issue. I've seen about a dozen companies move to Korean or Chinese manufacturing, and they all start the same way- substandard visual defects. Where they go from there, and the level of success ultimately attained is generally directly related to the amount of defects the design firm is willing to accept. The successful ones I've seen solve the visual issue within one or two product shipments.

Best wishes to you and Swiftech on your transition. I hope to see the rapid improvement I'm sure you expect, and look forward to purchasing more product from you within the next generation.

[gabe]

gabe,

I love what your company does. Y'all innovate like mad, listen to your customers and adjust according to end-user feedback in a way few others do. I also appreciate the realities of the modern design and manufacturing business.

Here's the way I see the perceived quality issue: you operate in a unique, high-expectation marketplace where perception is reality. to compound the problem, most water-coolers do it as a hobby or view it as a luxury. The problem is, even if your micropin bases perform like crazy (and all testing I've seen confirms this), the visual flaws bring up quality concerns that may or may not be warranted from a performance standpoint.

Where far-East manufacturing is concerned, I've seen some AMAZING machining done, so the country of origin is absolutely a non-issue. I've seen about a dozen companies move to Korean or Chinese manufacturing, and they all start the same way- substandard visual defects. Where they go from there, and the level of success ultimately attained is generally directly related to the amount of defects the design firm is willing to accept. The successful ones I've seen solve the visual issue within one or two product shipments.

Best wishes to you and Swiftech on your transition. I hope to see the rapid improvement I'm sure you expect, and look forward to purchasing more product from you within the next generation.

you are right on the button. excellent comments. the human factor is the most critical. how many times do i have to tell ppl to pay attention to details? on the other hand, I push for high production to satisfy demand. so it's a balancing act.

[warriorpoet]

...the human factor is the most critical. how many times do i have to tell ppl to pay attention to details? on the other hand, I push for high production to satisfy demand. so it's a balancing act.

I imagine that can get pretty frustrating, especially with something so low-tolerance.

[Philwong]

I do appreciate the criticism, it helps us do better, but I'd also like to get some operational feed-back. Have you tested the board yet? Let's see some temps and overclocks!

Base finish: I've asked our CNC guy to modify the tool path on the surface finish operation over the GPU to a circular pattern. Hopefully we can start implementing this in the next production batches.

Thread burs: totally concur. Been asking my ppl to be careful with this, and it looks like I'm going have to yell louder this time.

Allen wrench: OK

Cost cutting measures: these days, most if not all of the components in our PC's are made somewhere in Asia. If we want to stay in business, we have no choice but to make things over there. The toughest part for small American businesses when shifting production to Asia is to create a quality culture within the organization. As usual, it boils down to picking the right individuals to do the job, train them right, and keep pushing for perfection.

Thanks for listening, Gabe.

I'm still recovering from a nasty jet lag and will keep you folks posted on the performance soon. By the way, the inlet/outlet hole is chipped as well and is a bit out of shape at the opening so take note of that, too.

Actually, most products are made in China nowadays. But with tighter QC, the quality can be on par with just about any developed countries. This is a kink that could have been resolved by Swiftech before the blocks are shipped. You'll just have to crack the whip especially when it comes to these low-cost Chinese factories. That's the way things work there at the moment with no racism intended. After all, I'm also a Chinese.

Phil

[Philwong]

This is my current rig and the following is the revised loop configuration.

ST MCP655 -> ST GTZ (i7@4Ghz) -> ST MCW-NBMAX (NB) -> BI GTS120 -> ST Komodo 5800 (5870) -> ST MCW30 (SB) -> ST MCR220 -> BI GTS120 -> ST MCP655.

Fans will be swapped from Noctua P12 to AC F12 PWM thermal controlled via Rampage II Gene.


The Komodo is replacing my MCW60 rev. 2 due to high PWM temp during gaming.

Phil

[Jamesrt2004]

Hi gabe any news on the heatsink covers for the 5 series as ill purchase it + mcw60 + my 5850/70 when it's out =)

[Philwong]

Gabe

I'm facing the same no display problem encountered by another XS member here;
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=244152

It seems like the stock GPU cross bracket might be shorting the card without the springs as suggested by Swiftech's installation manual. Either way, the instruction "fasten gradually in a cross pattern until each leg of the bracket bottoms out" is obviously wrong according to your suggestion in that post.

I hope you're already investigating this issue and will be issuing an advisory on a permanent solution soon. Will the workaround solution suggested in the other post compromise the CPU and block contact and cooling performance, too?


I just spent two days installing my tight loop and it's nothing short of a nightmare to correct this problem. Not only does this waste my precious time, my new coolant is probably going down the drain as well. Sigh.

Phil

[iboomalot]

you can access the screws from the backside of the card just back them off 1-2 turns this solved my problem.

Good luck and stellar install

[Philwong]

you can access the screws from the backside of the card just back them off 1-2 turns this solved my problem.

Good luck and stellar install

I tried, the screws are too tight. More importantly, there aren't sufficient space to even reach them.

How's your GPU temp after the correction? Thanks anyway.

Phil

[Philwong]

One of my friends snapped this photo of the cross bracket. As you can see, it does come with a thin layer of isolation film. That eliminates the short circuit theory, but I'm still not quite convinced the springs should be removed. They're there for a reason and possibly to prevent over tightening.

Phil

[iboomalot]

the difference in height is 1mm thus 2 turns

This equals the distance at stock tension.

When fully tightened it puts pressure on the GPU or some other part.

All i know is loosen your screws and it should work.


Might try a wrench on the end of the scewdriver to give you leverage to break them loose.

[Philwong]

the difference in height is 1mm thus 2 turns

This equals the distance at stock tension.

When fully tightened it puts pressure on the GPU or some other part.

All i know is loosen your screws and it should work.

Might try a wrench on the end of the scewdriver to give you leverage to break them loose.

Will consider, thanks once again for the suggestion.

Phil

[BulldogPO]

Where to buy one in EU?
Or, Gabe can I buy one directly from you?

[gabe]

Gabe

I'm facing the same no display problem encountered by another XS member here;
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=244152

It seems like the stock GPU cross bracket might be shorting the card without the springs as suggested by Swiftech's installation manual. Either way, the instruction "fasten gradually in a cross pattern until each leg of the bracket bottoms out" is obviously wrong according to your suggestion in that post.

I hope you're already investigating this issue and will be issuing an advisory on a permanent solution soon. Will the workaround solution suggested in the other post compromise the CPU and block contact and cooling performance, too?


I just spent two days installing my tight loop and it's nothing short of a nightmare to correct this problem. Not only does this waste my precious time, my new coolant is probably going down the drain as well. Sigh.

Phil

Technical Bulletin - Komodo HD5800 - Reprint from HD5800 Product Page (news and technical bulletins section) and Swiftech forums.

Date: 2-2-10

Issue:
No graphics display after installation of the Komodo HD5800 (black screen). This is a random occurence, and no permanent damage to the card is expected.

Cause:
Overtightening of the 4 screws fastening the stock spring-backplate.

Field/user resolution:
Uninstalling the block is not necessary.
Backing off the 4 screws by a minimum of 1 turn, and not to exceed 2 turns (an equal amount of turns for each screw is essential) resolves the issue, and restores graphics functionality.

Scope:
This issue may affect all water-blocks shipped between December 1st, 2009 and January 31st, 2010.

Production Resolution:
Effective February 1st, 2010, inclusion of a nylon washer between board and spring back-plate prevents the user from overtightening of the spring back-plate. Installation guide was revised accordingly (http://www.swiftnets.com/products/in...ultilangue.pdf)

[Philwong]

Technical Bulletin - Komodo HD5800 - Reprint from HD5800 Product Page (news and technical bulletins section) and Swiftech forums.

Date: 2-2-10

Issue:
No graphics display after installation of the Komodo HD5800 (black screen). This is a random occurence, and no permanent damage to the card is expected.

Cause:
Overtightening of the 4 screws fastening the stock spring-backplate.

Field/user resolution:
Uninstalling the block is not necessary.
Backing off the 4 screws by a minimum of 1 turn, and not to exceed 2 turns (an equal amount of turns for each screw is essential) resolves the issue, and restores graphics functionality.

Scope:
This issue may affect all water-blocks shipped between December 1st, 2009 and January 31st, 2010.

Production Resolution:
Effective February 1st, 2010, inclusion of a nylon washer between board and spring back-plate prevents the user from overtightening of the spring back-plate. Installation guide was revised accordingly (http://www.swiftnets.com/products/in...ultilangue.pdf)

Those nylon washers should solve this problem. Thanks for following up and offering a permanent solution.

Phil

[RoadconeTuning]

i think gabe just told everyone to stop going hulk status on their backplates lol

[irenedakota]

Damn, I wish I could test my Komodo.

It is mounted on my GFX card in my case, but I can't do anything until I've received my AM2 mounting kit for the Apogee XT (Was shipped by Performance-PCs on the 5th of Jan, I think it is lost).

[Philwong]

Damn, I wish I could test my Komodo.

It is mounted on my GFX card in my case, but I can't do anything until I've received my AM2 mounting kit for the Apogee XT (Was shipped by Performance-PCs on the 5th of Jan, I think it is lost).

Did you bottom out all 4 screws for the GPU cross bracket according to the original Swiftech instruction?

Phil