FRONTPAGE EK WaterBlocks L360 Water Cooling Kit Review

[Overclockers.com]

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EK Waterblocks (EKWB, or just EK) really needs no introduction in the water cooling world. They are a stalwart in the water business and produce lots of good products. While Swiftech may be more well known to those outside the niche, EK has built itself up to be just as viable a solution, from the reservoir, through the pump, block and radiator; including the fittings that bind them all together. Today, we will be looking at their full water cooling kit, the EK-KIT L360. It comes with, quite literally, everything you need to water cool your processor

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[Robert17]

Very nice review Jeremy. It's good to be you with new toys like this to play with. Hats off to EK too...

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Thanks for the review Hokie!

 

[ch0b1ts]

Thanks for the review. I have been eyeballing the EK kits at Microcenter, where I'm currently working as a tech, the past few weeks wondering if they were any good. I'll be buying the kit in the next few days along with different tubing. I wouldn't have known about the issues with the tubing without this review.

 

[EK_Derick]

Nice one

 

[kamran]

Awesome !!! expect tubing !! i mean it looks looking for price !!!

 

[mdcomp]

Just wanted to bump this thread, as I posted an Editor's Note today in regards to the black substance, please see below or the full article for details.

Thanks,
Matt

Editor's Note (March 17, 2014) -- Matt Ring (mdcomp)

EK has done a complete investigation into the black substance found during the review, below are their findings from Product Manager, Niko Tivadar:

Regarding the black stuff in the bottom I can assure you it has not come from our tubing. I have also made inquiries to our rubber tube manufacturer, some 30km from our facility and they did confirm the EPDM rubber cannot break down like this under any reasonable condition. Also, we haven't found any incompatibilities between copper sulphate or benzalkonium chloride and our EPDM based tubing.

But due to the nature of tube manufacturing the tubing can contain tiny traces of char. These traces are however not enough to form deposits as shown on the photographs which leads us to another conclusion:

The blackish stuff most likely came from the radiator, which could have been contaminated with some sort of black algae if it was used previously and left partially wet, exposed to environment. It is highly unusual but may explain the dark spots. The algae usually grow in static flow cavities which explains why the main cooling chanels are clear of the the buildup. As per our testing the copper sulphate and benzalkonium chloride do not offer complete protection against organic build up while – ironically – the propylene glycol based EK-Ekoolant does.

The author of this review, Jeremy Vaughan (hokiealumnus), has confirmed that the radiator was brand new when installed into the loop and was never wet by his hands, apart from flushing it out immediately before installing it.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Interesting to say the least.