I decided to put another installation thread for those who choose Swiftech GTZ block for their setup. GTZ is extremely user friendly with only couple of places for potential screwup. Read allong...
Swiftech GTZ waterblock is Swiftech flagship product, it is supplied with two sets decent metal barbs (size 1/2” and 3/8 ID), 4 cheap plastic hose clamps and thermal paste of unknown nature. Unfortunately for Core i7 users, GTZ comes with a throw away LGA755 hold down and back plates, which may mean to pay extra $10 for proper mounting hardware for Core i7 users. Staring from June 2009, Swiftech ship GTZ with pre-installed LGA1366 plate, so after transition period of uncertainty default packaging will have Core i7 plate.
Inside block has two main construction parts with rubber O-ring and bowing frame between them. The bottom part is 49 grams 3.06mm thick copper base with raised cooling fins matrix. The top part is made of Acetal plastic with a surprisingly rough carving machinery job in my sample.
If you got GTZ with wrong plate and need to change it, you require to remove 4 screws that hold the block together, to take out the installed hold down plate, to move springs and screws from the old plate to the new plate and to assemble everything back while paying close attention to proper alignment of rubber insulation ring inside of the block. The hardest part of the process is removing and installing the stop-ring (see picture below) on the block’s screw assembly, which may be tricky for people with larger hands.
After installing the proper back plate, the rest of the process is a walk in the park. Apogee GTZ is truly outstanding in terms of user friendliness as it cannot can get any easier!
Supplied back plate comes with self-adhesive pads and goes perfectly into the CPU heatsink mounting holes on the back of mother board.
After application of thermal paste on CPU, the block needs to be lowered down
IN PROPER ORIENTATION (!) and screwed to the back plate in cross manner by tightening screws in cross/circle 1-3-2-4 order until full stop. No need to worry about tightening screws evenly at the end, retention mechanism construction does it automatically.
Attaching tubing requires paying close attention to which part is inlet and which part is outlet. The flow must follow pre-defined direction.
10-15 minutes ... and we are done!
Apogee GTZ is arguably the best beginner’s custom waterblock on the market. Installation process is simpler then installing a stock air cooler with only two areas for potential mistake: block orientation and tubing order.
