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News EKWB announces EK-AIO series of coolers

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 3 Feb 2020.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Read more
     
  2. ModSquid

    ModSquid Multimodder

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    75 quid to NOT be able to overclock? Erm...okay then.
     
  3. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    50 euros for double the radiator size - didn't think radiators where the expensive bit.
     
  4. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Put them in context man. You wouldn't use a 120 on a 9900k. You'd get the triple fan. The single fan one should easily cope with I3 and Ryzen quad core and so on.

    Well it's not clear yet if they are copper or alu but yeah it's a jump. However, I will say two things. 1. They are cheaper than I thought they would be and 2. They are quite pretty, if rainbows make you smile.

    The prices pretty much fall in place with the others. I thought they were going to be much more expensive.
     
  5. ModSquid

    ModSquid Multimodder

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    Not really sure why a 120 is no good on a 9900k - why is that any different to me using exactly that on two Sandy Bridge chips at 4.8? TDP is identical, according to the Ark.

    And when you poke that discussion a bit more, there have been several much cheaper air coolers over recent years that bit have reviewed and declared them more than capable of looking after overclocked chips.

    That price does not align with suggested capability.
     
  6. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    They look nice enough. Not the thickest radiators though. I would have thought that a watercooling company such as ekwb would have used thicker rads for better cooling...
     
  7. ModSquid

    ModSquid Multimodder

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    From memory, Antony did an article on experimenting with different radiator thicknesses some time ago and came up with the conclusion that it was dependent on fan type. I believe he ended up with better cooling from a thinner radiator.

    Maybe ek have done similar testing...
     
  8. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Plenty of cases have the radiator mount at the top, which in smaller cases leads to problems because the roof doesn't have sufficient clearance for a thick radiator (VRM heatsinks get in the way).
     
  9. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    True - I have an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 280mm in the top of my case (Phanteks P600S) and it's a bit tight but there's space. Then again - the Liquid Freezer II's all use 38mm thick radiators as opposed to ekwb's 28mm.

    I was just wondering how they'd get away with charging a fairly high price (in comparison to the competition) when others use thicker rads. There's the RGB aspect but then others offer that too for less. Paying for the name I'd guess? Perhaps I'm wrong and these will offer superior performance to the rest and will justify a higher cost but I can't see where that's coming from right now if I'm being honest
     
  10. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Yes with EK you're paying for the name tbh.
     
  11. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    That'd explain that then. Don't get me wrong - their stuff looks good and if I suddenly came into a lot of money I'd order stuff from them for a full loop but at this sort of level it looks a little expensive
     
  12. Maki role

    Maki role Dale you're on a roll... Lover of bit-tech

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    They're clearly aligned with the pricing of the Corsair Hydro units, which come out at roughly the same if you go for the RGB ones.
     
  13. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Aren't the Asus ones even more than this? IIRC like £90 for a 120 or something daft?
     
  14. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    I'm happy with my 1080Ti water block I got on discount for £70. I wasn't happy with the CPU block (it felt like it had no substance at all and was really light) and I wasn't happy with the Coolstream rads I had either. Those too were very light and kinda made me think "Wow, they really cost that much?".

    I have a taste for Bitspower, but not usually the money. So I bought a buttload of 11/8 fittings on OCUK clearout for 99p each. I got a 80mm BP res for £20 on OCUK as well as some other cheapies too. Very happy with that stuff. Then again at around £8 RRP on the fittings I am not surprised. XSPC offer the best bang for buck IMO. Their quality belies their pricing. I also loved Monsoon, by far my fave fittings ever are Chainguns, but they seem to have fallen off the map.

    Buy EK if you want looks. Buy Bitspower if you want the looks and the quality and buy XSPC and others for a sort of medium ground. However, with all of these Chinese companies like Barrow and Byski coming up (and Barrow have REALLY come up) it's very difficult to recommend uber expensive gear. I'm not discounting Aquacomputer or Watercool from this list as they both make lovely blocks, but AC seem to focus on the job and not the look (on their GPU blocks, they are mostly not even full cover) and Watercool are very expensive. Neither make any decent fittings.

    TL;DR just spend lots of time looking for the best value :)
     
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  15. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Up to £140 for the 120 version (if you want the one with an OLED display on the CPU block):hehe:
     
  16. Maki role

    Maki role Dale you're on a roll... Lover of bit-tech

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    And then there's NZXT just charging into custom loop ground with their new ones haha
     
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  17. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Clearly very high :D
     
  18. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    For reference what Maki is referring to:

    NZXT Kraken Z73 AIO ~£250

    Vs basic custom WC:

    Phanteks Glacier C350AP ~£50
    XSPC EX360 ~£50
    Laing DDC ~£65
    Bitspower Z-Multi 100mm Res ~£25
    Fans, fittings, tubing and coolant ~£40
    Total ~£230

    (If you aren't me and trust something other than the Laing DDC then you can cut the pump cost in half)
     
  19. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    Awesome overview there - thanks. I'll bear those in mind when I'm looking in the future :thumb:

    Holy jesus - £250 for an AIO. That's positively insane. All because it's got a screen?
     
  20. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Yep, add screen and ~£100 compared to old model:wallbash::wallbash::wallbash:
     
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