INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Although AIO (all in one) liquid CPU coolers have been gaining ground over "regular" CPU air coolers the same doesn't really apply for custom water cooling loops/sets. Yes we see them a lot in various modding projects since they tend to look a lot better/cooler than anything else the market has to offer (especially when used with colored liquids) but because of their high cost and time consuming installation they are still considered to be a niche hardware component/peripheral even by manufacturers themselves. We've seen quite a few attempts over the years by manufacturers to make custom water cooling loops more appealing to the main consumer base without much success. EK Water Blocks tends to change that with their latest Fluid Gaming series and today we'll be testing both their A120 and A240 Liquid CPU Cooling Sets.

    EK Water Blocks bears the name of its founder Edvard König, who started experimenting with liquid cooling in 1999. From the humble beginnings in the early years of the previous decade, the company grew steadily to become a global premium liquid cooling gear manufacturer. Today, EKWB offers a complete range of products for liquid cooling, from a renowned Supremacy line of CPU water blocks, wide range of in-house developed CoolStream radiators, Vardar high-static pressure fans, Phoenix Modular Liquid Cooling (MLC) solution, bringing affordable Fluid Gaming aluminum liquid cooling products to the market and providing overclocking enthusiasts, PC builders with the best of what the market can offer. With continuous research and design, we will always strive to bring best possible liquid cooling performance and experience to our customers all around the world.

    Both the A120 and the A240 liquid CPU cooling sets by EK Water Blocks consist by 4 parts an aluminum radiator (EK-AluStream SE 120 Lite for the A120 and EK-AluStream SE 240 Lite for the A240), aluminum cold plate waterblock (EK-Supremacy AX), pump/reservoir combo (EK-ACR SPC-60) and one or two fans (EK-Vardar F3-120 / single for the A120 and dual for the A240). Along with both kits EK Water Blocks also bundles their very own tubings (EK-DuraClear 9.5/12.7mm), fittings (EK-ACF ALU 10/13mm), coolant (EK-CryoFuel Clear - 100ml compressed), thermal paste (EK-TIM 1g syringe) and mounting brackets for Intel LGA1150/1151/1155/1156/2011/2011-3/2066 and AMD AM4 mainboards. According to EK Water Blocks due to the size of their components and their affordable price tags the Fluid Gaming kits blur the line between AIO and custom loops so let's check them out.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both boxes have pictures of the kits at the front right over three drawings pointing to their main features and beneath the manufacturer logo.

 

 

The package contents are printed on a large sticker placed on the right side of both boxes.

 

 

EK Water Blocks showcases the main parts of the Fluid Gaming kits with the help of 5 pictures placed at the top.

 

 

A few words about the kits are placed at the rear of each box right next to a picture of the kits mounted onto a mainboard.

 

 

The entire bundle is placed into secondary cardboard boxes (the radiators are placed in their own boxes).

 

 

Inside the boxes of both the A120 and the A240 EK Water Blocks has placed their EK-AluStream SE Lite radiators (Allen key with short and long mounting screws included), EK-Supremacy AX waterblocks, EK-ACR SPC-60 pump/reservoir combos, EK-Vardar F3-120 fans (mounting screws included), fan y-splitter cables, pump base/mounts, pump eSATA to three pin power adapters, three pin pump extension cables, EK-CryoFuel Clear coolants, 24pin PSU bridges, Allen keys, EK-TIM thermal grease syringes, EK-DuraClear tubings, EK-ACF ALU 10/13mm fittings, user guides and all the necessary backplates and screws needed to mount them onto Intel LGA1150/1151/1155/1156/2011/2011-3/2066 and AMD AM4 mainboards.

 

 

THE A120 AND A240

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The EK-AluStream SE 240 Lite aluminum radiator measures 280mm in length and is just 27.5mm thick (our tool says 27.75mm).

 

 

This specific radiator has an FPI (fins per inch) count of 20.

 

 

On the other hand the EK-AluStream SE 120 Lite aluminum radiator is just 160mm long and also measures 27.5mm in thickness (our instrument however says 26.82mm).

 

 

We counted 19 fins per inch for the EK-AluStream SE 120 Lite.

 

 

The EK-Vardar F3-120 120mm PWM double-ball bearing fans can achieve speeds of up to 1850RPM to produce up to 63CFM of airflow and 2.24mmH2O of static pressure with just 29.5dBA noise.

 

 

EK Water Blocks also bundles the EK-ACR SPC-60 PWM pump/reservoir combo which is made out of plastic and features a 60mm diameter interchangeable tube. In terms of performance this pump features a maximum liquid flow of up to 450 liters per hour and a maximum pressure of up to 3.2 meters.

 

 

Since this is a somewhat basic model it only features two G1/4” ports placed at the front.

 

 

At the base we see the 4pin PWM cable and four vibration canceling mounting points.

 

 

The EK-Supremacy AX features a black brushed aluminum faceplate and according to EK Water Blocks it's closely related to the EK-Supremacy EVO since they use the same basic engine.

 

 

Although the aluminum cold plate did work fine in our tests we do prefer copper (that however is as expected reserved for the more expensive kits).

 

 

By mounting both fans onto the radiators their thickness jumps to almost 54mm.

 

 

 

INSTALLATION - FINISHED LOOKS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mounting the EK-AluStream SE 240 Lite aluminum radiator at the top of our Obsidian 900D was extremely easy as expected (you can easily fit pretty much any radiator up there).

 

 

One of the things i always liked about the LGA2011 socket (which is also why we’ll be keeping it for future CPU cooler tests even after our new LGA2066 system goes live) was the ease on which you can mount any waterblock and the EK-Supremacy AX is not an exception (unfortunately LGA115x and AM4 boards need different backplates).

 

 

After you mount the four base screws you just need to place the waterblock and secure it in place as seen above.

 

 

Unfortunately the EK-ACR SPC-60 PWM pump/reservoir combo only comes with a mount which can be placed at the base of your case so we got a bit creative and mounted it on the mainboard plate as seen above (the base of the Obsidian 900D is way too far - not to mention we have several fans down there).

 

 

One of the last things needed is to cut the tubings and secure them with the fittings.

 

 

Remember that you need to fill the pump/reservoir combo prior to powering up the kit (and then you need to fill the reservoir as it pushes liquid through the entire loop).

 

 

As for the A120 we tested it by mounting its radiator at the rear as expected for a single 120mm radiator kit.

 

  

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since we want all of you to be able to compare similar products we created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. When testing complete water cooling kits we use the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Finally much like when testing CPU Coolers it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with our test rig (when we test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

 

  

TEST RESULTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Before we continue I need to take this chance and apologise to EK Water Blocks because of the very long time it took for us to finish this particular review (roughly 5 and ½ months). Now as some of you know I’ve had several health issues from mid-2017 (labyrinth in the ear followed by a fractured hand) and since I’m practically the one behind PC hardware and peripherals reviews I was forced to push back several demanding ones like this one (if it were up to my doctor i'd be out completely). In any case we hope that this will not in any way hinder our long standing cooperation with EK Water Blocks. Coming back to the Fluid Gaming kits when EK emailed me saying they were releasing some “starter” water cooling kits which would fit right between their high-end custom loops and their AIO models I was very interested and as it turns out I wasn’t wrong to be so. Sure their Fluid Gaming A120 and A240 models can’t compete with their higher-end EK-KIT P280 which we have in our charts but as EK pointed out several times their goal was to outperform similarly sized AIO models and we think they’ve done exactly that. On top of that they also have the same kits ready with support for NVIDIA and AMD cards for more demanding users at very attractive prices. That’s not to say the Fluid Gaming line is perfect since honestly it’s still a bit rough around the edges. For example the plastic cap used with the pump/reservoir combo is hard to secure sometimes and the AluStream radiators used don’t scream quality like their CoolStream line. Of course i didn’t expect that to begin with from the Fluid Gaming sets but having tested several standalone radiators and kits that distinction was very clear.

   So just how much does EK Water Blocks ask for their Fluid Gaming A120 and A240 Liquid CPU Cooling Sets? Well currently the Fluid Gaming A120 set retails for roughly USD140 inside the USA and for 152.41Euros inside the EU (directly from EKWB) whereas the Fluid Gaming A240 set can be found for USD159.99 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for 172.73Euros inside the EU (again directly from EKWB). Granted these prices are not exactly on par with what we see in the AIO market but it’s pretty much next to impossible to build a custom water cooling loop for the same price as an AIO one so we can’t really call these expensive. The only serious problem is with the availability of the kits in the USA and since the EKWB store tends to be somewhat expensive outside of the EU we do hope something gets done soon. All said and done both the A120 and A240 Fluid Gaming Liquid CPU Cooling Sets are not only valid choices for people looking to get their very first steps in custom water cooling but thanks to their performance and low noise levels they are also ideal for gamers looking for something unique (compared to AIO models) which is why both kits get our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Build Quality
- Very Good Cooling Efficiency
- High Static Pressure 120mm Vardar Fans (2.24mmH2O)
- Size (Slim Radiator / Compact Pump-Reservoir Combo)
- Looks (Always Compared To AIO Models)
- Price (For Complete Water Cooling Kits)

CONS

- USA Availability