Installation and Setup

A little MC1000 info

The MC1000 uses neoprene (or another foam) gaskets to prevent condensation by blocking airflow in the cooled areas. The foam gaskets basically cover all the exposed areas where water is likely to form if left uncovered.

The MC1000 supports Pentium II, Pentium III, Slot-1 Celeron, Celeron PPGA (via slocket), and Slot-A (Athlon) processors. You still need to specify which type of processor you'll be using when you order the MC1000 because each format requires a different foam gasket to ensure a proper fit. If you get a new processor that uses a different format, you'll have to purchase a new $20 gasket from Swiftech for that specific CPU format.

Our MC1000

Our evaluation model came with the Celeron PPGA slocket gasket, and included an Asus slocket. The inner gaskets are shaped to envelop the socket and CPU with an additional pre-cut cavity for the line of voltage jumpers on the slocket. Unfortunately, our gasket was uneven at one end, and we couldn't make a tight seal without bending the slocket while screwing the back plate into place. Eventually we had to loosen two of the six holding screws to make a reasonably tight seal while still keeping the slocket edge straight. Our tests worked out just fine, but we don't recommend trying to follow our example. If your gasket doesn't fit properly, ask Swiftech for a replacement.

The size of the cooling unit may pose a problem for some motherboards. In some cases, the MC1000 might extend over a DIMM socket. The heatsink on the BX chipset may also interfere with the CPU installation. We didn't have any problems with the MC1000 on our Abit BX6 2.0, but we did notice that the weight of the heatsink and fans was causing the entire unit to sag down. This was in our test bed which has the motherboard on a flat surface. We weren't using the plastic retention ties on our test system, but we would definitely use them in an upright case.

The neoprene foam did its job, and we didn't encounter any condensation problems with our cooling unit even after letting the system idle overnight.