Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
EK certainly succeeded in producing a great looking and performing LCS kit. Overall, the performance is certainly good, the kit does forfeit on acoustics. However, it's not a massive deal as the extra capacity in cooling allows you to tweak a bit. Lower that fan RPM in the BIOS and you'll still have good CPU temperature at far lower noise levels. With that mindset of 'enough cooling' versus 'sheer silence,' things work out in a very balanced manner. The cooler in its default configuration does not disappoint in terms of performance, in fact even at 1.40 Volts for the CPU tweaked I'd be fine using this cooler for short bursts of time as, with a 95W TDP processor, you're still at 80 degrees C. At that point however the cooler does become noisy as at one point the coolant will heat up requiring more airflow.
Noise
We mentioned it already, the cooler is noisier than some others. I have made remarks about Vardar fans in the past already, great airflow, but they certainly are not silent. At defaults this is a fairly silent product, on our ASUS Sabertooth, we simply leave the default PWM based fan profile for what it is (not the AUTO setting. Passing 1.30 Volts (tweaked) the noise levels jump up greatly. Ergo we recommend tweaking the fan profile to a setting you deem acceptable. That is likely to be under 700 RPM. You can create a delta with a max ramp of 700 RPM. This should be enough to keep things silent and the cooling temperature acceptable even with a decent tweak applied to your processor. We'd classify the cooler as a performance product and thus it matches mainstream to high-end cooling, cooling capacity is definitely good enough for even a nice overclock.
Aesthetics
The overall looks are very good as far as I am concerned, the mostly black design makes the rad/fans/pump look nice. EK is subtle with the usage of their logo, we appreciate that very much as we do not like a raging Christmas tree with flashing logos. The rest is subtle as well, we like the sleeved tubing and all dark cabling. You can go as far as you want too with the aRGB fans, they do need a controller on your motherboard or you need to purchase an external controller though, something not needed with, for example, a Corsair series LCS, that also allows for greater control through their iCUE software suite.
Design
Overall it is easy to install with the mounting system, prefilled. It's one of the easiest and most comfortable kits on the market to use and install. The black design will make this kit match up nicely in any PC. It is simply a good alternative to heatpipe coolers with the added benefits of being fairly quiet whilst offering very nice looks. Installation is simply a breeze, easy and fast. No skills are required other than the need for ten minutes to install the kit.
The one remark I need to make is that this block is not going to fit all motherboards. The block + cap is pretty big and, next to that, are the tubing fittings, these bits can bump into a heatsink that is close to the socket. You can quite easily reorient the block of course, but that does look pretty crap. So keep that in mind if you have an exhaustively heatsink and shielding populated motherboard.
Pricing
The kit as tested today will cost, with VAT included, 74.90€, 124.90€ and 149.90€ for the 120, 240 and 360 versions respectively. For that money, you will still not reach that 'enthusiast' segment of cooling but it surely does manage well. Yes, performance is definitely good for a 240mm thin rad based product but remains to be just that if you compare it to stand-alone kits like a custom loop.
Final words
There's little to not like about the EK-AIO series, they perform well and look fantastic. As stated, I do have a bit of an issue with Vardar fans as they have become rather noisy. The good news is that you can make them silent by creating your own fan profile with a low fan RPM up-to, say, 500~700 RPM (or something of your preference). Obviously, that will cost you some peak cooling capacity, but that won't be much though as the kit does offer proper cooling performance overall. Seen from that point of view, the kit is flexible enough to answer everybody's needs, however, you do need to have the knowledge to deal with that as it is manual configuration. One problem that EK is facing is that this market is hugely saturated, and that will make it more difficult to sell products. Pricing is okay really, especially with the aRGB fans and cooling block in mind. You do need to light them up yourself through the mobo or with an extra RGB controller (5V). My one conundrum is that this was the first-ever LCS block that did not fit in the intended position on the motherboard, we had to rotate the block as the tube fitting would bump into the heatsink towards the 4/8-pin ATX power connector side. The main reason we opted for a TUF Sabertooth back in the day was specifically to be able to test that. The majority of motherboards will not be an issue really, however, if that mobo heatsink real-estate surrounding your CPU socket is densely and closely packed, be careful. Other than that, it's a great little cooler priced fairly and with a terrific 5 years warranty. We can't complain, it is recommended, but please do take note of the remarks I made in high regard, please.
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