EK Predator 240 AIO Liquid Cooling review - Introduction

EK Predator 240 AIO Liquid Cooling Review
240 mm rad based liquid cooling to a new performance level

There's a new AOI player in the arena, the Slovenia liquid cooling gawds from EK are now offering the Predator series liquid coolers. We test the Predator 240 which is an all-in-one liquid CPU cooler for cases with 240 mm radiator mounts, but there will be a 360 model with extra quick connect to add gear in the cooling loop as well. Armed with a nice thick radiator, proper tubing and an excellent water-block the pre-filled and fitted kit is easy to install, and yes really impressive for a 240 mm product in both noise levels and cooling performance.

You know, in the world of CPU coolers nothing ever stops developing. These days you can select from a hundred different heat-pipe based coolers, where many are shaped, formed and priced the same. The better heat-pipe based coolers are good though. Next in line are LCS systems (liquid cooling) setup followed by the real and proper expensive liquid cooling kits. The entry level LCS products are affordable, easy to install pre-fab liquid cooling kits. We've seen and tested many of them as Corsair, Asetek, NZXT, Cooler Master and so on all have interesting kits. Weirdly enough we never tested anything from Slovenia based EK though. That ends and starts today. See things are complicated, 80% of the AIO kits out there is based on an Asetek design, as they hold all the patents. In fact on numerous occasions they have successfully sued manufacturers for using the concept of a pump and liquid cooling block AIO. So to release an LCS product that does not interfere with existing designs that fall under a patent EK stepped up. For their excellent stand-alone liquid cooling kits they went to the drawing table and designed the Predator series.

The EK-Predator series will become available in a 240 mm and 360 mm model. To bypass intricate designs they took a nice thick radiator, a fan control hub and pump, and mounted these parts together to combine with their extremely silent EK-Vardar fans. You'll spot seriously good thick tubing and an EK-Supremacy MX water block to chill your processor. This is an AIO unit prefilled with coolant and with the fans and everything installed for you. Really, all you need to do is install it into your PC.

Features:

• EK-Supremacy MX
• EK-Vardar fans with PWM control
• Industry standard DDC pump, could cope with 3 blocks
• Copper core radiator and blocks
• G1/4 ports to allow complete customization and expansion

The kit is a bit unusual maybe seems a little bulky to look at for a first impression as the pump seats at the the end of the radiator, here you will also see LEDs to verify power ON/OFF. Dimensions of the main radiator unit on Predator 240, with integrated pump and reservoir are: 295 mm x 133 mm x 68 mm. This allows mounting of unit in almost any modern computer chassis.

Small note the, 360 mm model comes with quick couplings connectors to add/dismount gear to the loop, the 240 mm model does not have this as a feature. Priced at 199$/199 EUR this is most definitely not the most cheap AIO kit, but really you could look at this as a high-end towards enthusiast class LCS kit factory installed for you but aimed at just one CPU. The performance really is excellent as this review will show.

So without further ado, let's have a peek at the EK-Predator Series 240 and then head on-wards into the review.