Having great success with the Swiftech MCX462, I was quite eager to try the smaller and quieter version of Swiftech's Copper/Aluminum helicoid cooler. Dubbed the MCXC370, this is actually their third version of the MC370 series. The original was all aluminum, and the second, the MC370-OA sported the helicoid pins. This time around, they replace the aluminum base with a thick slab of copper.

When the MCXC370 arrived, my first reaction was, "Wow, this box is huge", but in reality, it isn't much bigger than other heatsinks in this range, and the excess bulk of the packaging was due to the added protection for shipping. Upon close inspection, the five things that I noticed right away were the copper base, helicoid pins, mounting clip, rubber spacers and a mere 33cfm fan.

Heatsink

MCXC370" copper base
Base dimensions: 2.5x2.5x.5" - 63.5x63.5x12.7mm
Base material: Copper C110
Base flatness better than .001" - 25µ
Base micro surface finish 8 or better
Heat dissipation medium 188 Helicoid pins (patent pending), made of high conductivity aluminum alloy 1100 (218 W/m-K)
Heat sink overall dimensions: 2.5x2.5x1.63" - 63.5x 63.5x41.4mm
Weight: 17 oz - 482 g

One thing when holding the MCXC370 in your hands, is that you'll be in awe of the quality of the product. It's not super shiny or anything, but rather, it has a brushed, sophisticated look. It also weighs a ton, considering it's quite a bit smaller than it's big brother.

The base is copper, whereas the pins are aluminum. The base of the MCXC370 is pre-lapped to an extremely fine finish. According to Swiftech, the flatness exceeds .001" - 25µ, and the base finish is rated 8. What this means to you is that you'll probably not need to do any lapping yourself, which will save you both the hassle and the time. Either way, don't forget to apply the thermal paste (some is included) to fill in the gaps you can't see.

Like the MCX462, the pins are the helicoid designed ones, and they effectively double the cooling surface area, when compared to their earlier design. As you may know, copper extracts heat quickly from the CPU, but dissipates it slowly. Aluminum has the opposite thermal properties as it isn't as cable to absorbing flashes of heat, but it can whisk it away faster. The aluminum pins, which releases heat quicker, therefore allows for the copper base to move the heat from the base, to the pins, to the open air more efficiently. We'll see later on if this theory pans out.

Here, we can see the clipping system Swiftech employs for the MCXC370. Basically, you got 2 retaining clips attaching to the socket. The compression springs meet AMD heatsink to CPU pressure specifications, so no need to overdo it. The design of the clip differs from the previous MCX370, in that all new heatsinks (of this class) are shipped with the new 3 Tab clip design which grips all tabs on the socket. This is great for those of you who have broken the center retaining tab.

To be honest, it took me awhile to figure this out. I'm used to turning screws clockwise to tighten. When I lifted my case up, I saw my heatsink almost fell off (!). You have to turn the screw counterclockwise to tighten the heatsink (actually expanding the screw, rather than compressing) to the socket. You can find on their page, but the included instruction sheet (which I neglected to read beforehand) is quite clear.

In any case, the clip is a piece of cake to setup, and is pretty much foolproof. In fact, I would probably point people towards this one, rather than the MCX462 if simplicity in installation is an issue.

The fan that shipped with my sample was the Papst 33cfm, 43dba one. Compared to the usual Delta, the fan is actually fairly quiet in comparison. Swiftech suggests having the fan blowing onto the heatsink for maximum performance. In my experience, most heatsinks work this way, and since my heatsink came pre-assembled, this was already done for me. I was disappointed that no fan rpm cable was attached to the Papst. All you get is a 4 pin Molex connection. It's not really all that big a deal, but personally, I like to keep an eye on the fan speed every now and then to make sure it's working fine. Depending on how loud your case fans are, you may not hear this one break down. Whatever you do, don't put your fingers near there to see, since no fan grill was included.

The rubber spacers, mentioned earlier, serve to raise the fan over the heatsink. Swiftech claims that the temperature improvement can be as much as 1C or 2C. In theory, this makes sense, since any fan works best when nothing is pressed against it. Try it your self by holding your hand in front of a fan you use in the summer. As you move your hand away, you feel more air. Anyhow, we'll test this theory out.

Performance

AMD Athlon XP 1800+, overclocked to ~1900+ (1.85v), with Nanotherm Blue
MSI K7N420 Pro, with socket thermal sensor touching the bottom of the CPU
Antec SX1030B Case, with only the Enermax power supply fans on.
Prime95 is run for 20 minutes, or about 30 tests
Room temperature is maintained at ~23C/74F

I've decided to only test the MCXC370 against the Vantec CCK-6035D, since it's the only other heatsink I've tested that's in the same class. To make things fair, I test both heatsinks with the Delta fan, and the Papst Fan. For the Swiftech, I'm going to include temperatures without the rubber spacers.

Performance was very close, but the MCXC370 certainly outclassed the Vantec model. The rubber spacers seem to do it's job of lowering temperature, but more importantly, it does cut down on the vibration. The Delta was rattling so much, I was actually concerned it'd fly off.

Final Words

This is the second best (the best being the hulking MCX462) performing heatsink we've tested around here. Performance users will certainly want to use the heatsink in conjunction with a Delta. The Papst fan is better for people who want to be able to retain their hearing, and are only concerned that their CPU doesn't melt. I certainly do not think that aggressive overclocking can be achieved with the Papst though. Temperatures remained under 50C, but my overclocking wasn't anything crazy.

Given the performance, a couple degrees better than the Vantec, I was hoping that the price would be in the same range as some of the sub-40$ coolers. Fully assembled as is, it weighs in at a hefty 48$, which is a little steep in my opinion. I'll admit, that from all the heatsinks I've ever looked at, Swiftech's feel and look like they're worth the dough, but it's hard for a web surfer to see that themselves.

This is where it gets confusing, so bear with me. The quality is superb, but I find it a little hard to recommended the MCXC370 kit as an alternative to cheaper, equally performing coolers. However, the cost of a bare MCX370 (no fan) is 30$, which is a fair price to me. You'll need to get your own fan, but Deltas are sold for as low as 10$ anyhow. Better still, if you have an older aluminum heatsink with a Delta, just use that.

If you already have a decent copper cooler, keep it. If not, I would certainly recommend the bare MCXC370, but not the kit, since I feel it's a lot to pay considering it's performance with the Papst. With a Delta, it performs on par with some of the best coolers currently sold.

Update: I just want to add that after further investigation, the MCXC370, without a fan, is in fact, priced competitively with many of the other top offerings available. I'd name them all, but that's not really the point of my review. Taking a quick look, I can see that the ThermalRight SK6 is the same price, without a fan, and after asking a few friends for random temperature readings (we have yet to review the SK6 here), the MCXC370 performs favorably against it. Take that statment with a grain of salt though, as every testing environment is different.

Pros: Great performance, good quality, foolproof installation.

Cons: Expensive, no fan grill, and no fan rpm monitoring connection.

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