In the box/Issues

Close Inspection

Upon opening the box you'll immediately notice the amount of materials that ship with the product.

Besides the cooling unit itself, the box also contains a tube of thermal paste, clamps for locking the MC370 cooler in place, an allen wrench for screwing the clamps down, a patch of foam, and a 2.5"x2.5" patch of neoprene for mounting on the back of the motherboard. (We'll discuss the use of these parts on the next page.)

Quite a few more materials than a standard heatsink and fan combo huh?

Contents straight out of the Swiftech box

The MC370 also comes with a helpful illustrated paper instruction manual with installation instructions and guidelines that mention everything we've previously discussed in this review. In addition the Swiftech website contains additional pictures and guidelines to help with the MC370 installation.

With all the available resources, installation is pretty well documented, which is certainly a good thing considering the amount of work required for a successful installation.

One of the main reasons a good installation is necessary is to prevent condensation from shorting out the CPU. With the MC370-1 and especially the MC370-2, the TEC is operating at such low temperatures that condensation can occur. We'll discuss combating condensation in detail on the next page.

Power Issues

All this extra cooling doesn't come without costs. For instance in order for the TEC to work properly, it must draw anywhere from 4 to 8.5 amps at 12 volts, therefore a beefy power supply is necessary to supply the entire system with enough juice.

In particular, Swiftech recommends your power supply be capable of delivering 12 amps at 12 volts for dual MC370-1, anything less could result in poor performance. (If the MC370 works at all.) Keep in mind that some 250W and 300W power supplies aren't capable of producing this figure, so check your power supply carefully before installing the MC370.

A second problem lies in the sheer physical size of the heatsink and fan. If used in conjunction with a Slocket converter card you may need to leave nearby DIMM sockets open to accommodate the MC370. This is a problem with Alpha heatsinks as well; some motherboards simply aren't large enough for certain aftermarket cooling components.

With the use of a Slocket, there isn't much room for RAM.

These are all issues to keep in mind if you're interested in purchasing an MC370-1 or MC370-2, we recommend contacting Swiftech before you purchase your unit.