Waterblock selection: Raystorm or Apogee HD

I'm about to jump into the deep end with water cooling and I'm having a hard time deciding on the waterblock for the CPU. I'm thinking either the Swiftech Apogee HD or the XSPC Raystorm. This will be a one radiator setup at first, cooling the CPU and a Radeon 6970 with a XSPC Razor waterblock.

I know the Raystorm is a great block, but not sure if I should go for it due to the rather extreme bowing compared to the Apogee. I also have heard the Apogee has a much better mounting system, though the Raystorm is lower restriction. Since I'm working with a rather simple loop, I'm not sure it matters.

Thanks for the input.

Both are top level blocks, and perform similarly. You cannot go wrong with either.

The extreme bowing is good for small die CPUs (like Haswell, SB, and IB) but not as good for large die CPUs (like SB-E and Piledriver).

XSPC sucks at customer service and Swiftech is awesome at customer service. Both blocks are decent but from my personal experience dealing with customer service from XSPC is a big FAIL.

Customer service from Swiftech is a big WIN.


I have had that Apogee HD block and it is very unique with the multiple inputs and outputs and cools great.

Get the one that looks coolest to you.

I have been running the Raystorm for about a year and a half now on a 2600k. I love it. I don't know anything about their Customer service but the block is easy to mount and looks/works good.