I really like your build let's start by saying that. Hands down it's the best looking and practical block on the market. Having a DDC pump inside there which is also cooled by the top part and 4 ports (+2 fill/drain - coolant temp sensor) is pretty neat and space savior. I have one and I have to say a couple of things. The unit is very heavy and the quality is very good. The pump, like all the DDCs, is very noisy at high or even mid rpm but it's silent at 20-25% pwm (iirc half the speed - keep in mind any value higher than 50 is actually 100%). You can remove the RGB strip very easily which is a good thing if you hate RGB or RGB cables in general. You can also replace the DDC with the 4.1 Ek version so you can only run it with a single fan header instead of the sata+fan cables. Filling the loop is impossible without having extra tube or an extra reservoir connected while filling the loop. I've used an old res and it took a lot of shaking to remove all the air. It's not one of things that I hate on this combo block but it is what it is. Performance is exactly the same as the basic velocity² blocks. Cost wise it doesn't make much sense to use this product without having at least 2 blocks (cpu,gpu) or more than one radiator. I mean if you're going to run it with a single block/rad just go for an AIO. Although I'd understand it if you do because this thing looks awesome.
To be honestly, for anybody starting out and only going for cpu and one rad it does makes sense as you'd be doing yourself a favor of giving yourself the option to add a gpu block later. You don't get the option with going AIO.
I will have consider this option for my Phanteks Evolv Shift X build I am working on. Maybe a small reservoir will help with filling. Thanks for the review.
I have watched it. I believe that is how I found your content.@@CrazyTechLabNice build. I took a lot of inspiration from your build on my original Shift build.
Awesome sauce. I've been thinking about one of these or the barrow one for years as it would make it so much easier. Is there much vibration from the pump being strapped straight to the board? Great review as usual and thanks for the perspective of different cooler heights
I get you and I usually avoid mounting pumps direct to anything for that reason but it was seriously quiet. It's decoupled by a few separate layers of plastic and orings - I didn't even feel the need to tune it down using PWM
Recently built my first custom water loop PC right before EK got cancelled. Saw one of these and the price tag, noped out, and got Barrow’s pump/block/reservoir combo instead for $105 on Aliexpress. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t perform as well and the mounting mechanism is definitely not as great, but it’s good enough for my build. Still cool to see a breakdown of this
@@CrazyTechLab - Thank you. Last question. What are your thoughts about having the reservoir sitting right on the CPU? Does not the heat coming off that CPU, heating that water in a way, maybe not good? Is this bad? I have no clue?
@ralpha9198 I mean the whole Idea with watercooling is to transfer the heat to the coolant. And then for the radiator to expel the heat from the coolant. So it doesn’t really matter if the heat enters through the reservoir or the copper waterblock plate.
@@CrazyTechLab - Thank you so much! At the end of the day, the radiators must handle their business. Right now I have the EK-Quantum Velocity² D-RGB - 1700 Full Nickel, with a separate pump and resivior. I Am just trying to see if it worth taking the consolidated route, and maybe inserting an extra exterior rresivior, for the sake of fluid.
@ralpha9198 I can be a bit tricky to bleed the loop of air but if you need to save space it’s a good option. However unless you really need it, a separate waterblock and reservoir will probably be easier and possibly cheaper. Depends on your needs really!
Any ideas if running this 90deg off would cause any issues (with the inlets and outlets on top)? I'm on a small itx build and it's the only orientation of tubes that makes sense here
Wouldn’t worry. It’s a pain to bleed air from the loop as the reservoir is also very small. So I’d just use it how you need too and just spend a bit longer bleeding the air from the loop
Yeah, if EK came up with this design and it was a unique product, they could be justified in charging whatever they want for it. However, they're just the copycats and it's simply their brand name they believe justifies a rip off.
It has actually been reduced recently. I was thinking of getting it as it's like 200 euros which is cheaper than me buying a block and separate res and fittings
I literally just returned this last week. I was originally gonna build in the NR200 but went with the A4-H20 instead & unfortunately this was too big to fit.
It's almost a crime to ask that kind of money when you know this isn't even an original product. The sheer audacity of EK to basically copy someone else's design and charge exorbitant amounts of money as if this is a unique product that you can only get from EK is disgusting. PC building is getting ridiculously expensive and a lot of the blame is on enthusiasts who can't help themselves but buy things that are simply excessive for their use cases. For example, some Intel fanboy wants to brag about their new Intel rig so Intel ramps up power consumption to 300W+ just to say they have the BEST enthusiast CPU and now the motherboard manufacturer can charge $400 for an entry level board but cause of the VRM requirements and another $200 is needen for a 360 AIO. Same is true for power hungry GPUs with melting connectors.
It's not that similar to the others really. All apart from Barrowch's latest one lack side ports and look totally different. Pretty sure this one was released in a similar time frame to the EK www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Barrow-OLED-Display-CPU-Waterblock-with-17W-PWM-Pump-and-Monitor-5v-aRGB-INTEL-Clear-Black_81611.html
I really like your build let's start by saying that. Hands down it's the best looking and practical block on the market. Having a DDC pump inside there which is also cooled by the top part and 4 ports (+2 fill/drain - coolant temp sensor) is pretty neat and space savior. I have one and I have to say a couple of things.
The unit is very heavy and the quality is very good. The pump, like all the DDCs, is very noisy at high or even mid rpm but it's silent at 20-25% pwm (iirc half the speed - keep in mind any value higher than 50 is actually 100%). You can remove the RGB strip very easily which is a good thing if you hate RGB or RGB cables in general. You can also replace the DDC with the 4.1 Ek version so you can only run it with a single fan header instead of the sata+fan cables. Filling the loop is impossible without having extra tube or an extra reservoir connected while filling the loop. I've used an old res and it took a lot of shaking to remove all the air. It's not one of things that I hate on this combo block but it is what it is. Performance is exactly the same as the basic velocity² blocks. Cost wise it doesn't make much sense to use this product without having at least 2 blocks (cpu,gpu) or more than one radiator. I mean if you're going to run it with a single block/rad just go for an AIO. Although I'd understand it if you do because this thing looks awesome.
I agree with most of that. Thankfully there was an RTX 4090 in the system too 😊
To be honestly, for anybody starting out and only going for cpu and one rad it does makes sense as you'd be doing yourself a favor of giving yourself the option to add a gpu block later. You don't get the option with going AIO.
whats link DDC version 4.1 EK ?
I will have consider this option for my Phanteks Evolv Shift X build I am working on. Maybe a small reservoir will help with filling. Thanks for the review.
Sounds great! You should check out the Phanteks Shift I did. I used the Phanteks pump/res combo
I have watched it. I believe that is how I found your content.@@CrazyTechLabNice build. I took a lot of inspiration from your build on my original Shift build.
Awesome sauce. I've been thinking about one of these or the barrow one for years as it would make it so much easier. Is there much vibration from the pump being strapped straight to the board? Great review as usual and thanks for the perspective of different cooler heights
I get you and I usually avoid mounting pumps direct to anything for that reason but it was seriously quiet. It's decoupled by a few separate layers of plastic and orings - I didn't even feel the need to tune it down using PWM
Recently built my first custom water loop PC right before EK got cancelled. Saw one of these and the price tag, noped out, and got Barrow’s pump/block/reservoir combo instead for $105 on Aliexpress. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t perform as well and the mounting mechanism is definitely not as great, but it’s good enough for my build. Still cool to see a breakdown of this
That's a really good price for the Barrow tbh. How much was postage?
Wym by cancelled ? EKWB’s website is still up
@@spartan612 it cancelled only for woke new age idiots... here in europe, buisness is as usuall (fuck ppl, money is king)
Have you reviewed a case called formd t1? That block would be fantastic for that build
@CrazyTechLab - At the end of the video, is the block attached to the MSI motherboard? MPG Z790i? Thank you, Nice video.
Yep I used it in this build ua-cam.com/video/lpX3iY2r57g/v-deo.htmlsi=OYSnsMUKOXNiKmzh
@@CrazyTechLab - Thank you. Last question. What are your thoughts about having the reservoir sitting right on the CPU? Does not the heat coming off that CPU, heating that water in a way, maybe not good? Is this bad? I have no clue?
@ralpha9198 I mean the whole
Idea with watercooling is to transfer the heat to the coolant. And then for the radiator to expel the heat from the coolant. So it doesn’t really matter if the heat enters through the reservoir or the copper waterblock plate.
@@CrazyTechLab - Thank you so much! At the end of the day, the radiators must handle their business. Right now I have the EK-Quantum Velocity² D-RGB - 1700 Full Nickel, with a separate pump and resivior. I Am just trying to see if it worth taking the consolidated route, and maybe inserting an extra exterior rresivior, for the sake of fluid.
@ralpha9198 I can be a bit tricky to bleed the loop of air but if you need to save space it’s a good option. However unless you really need it, a separate waterblock and reservoir will probably be easier and possibly cheaper. Depends on your needs really!
Any ideas if running this 90deg off would cause any issues (with the inlets and outlets on top)? I'm on a small itx build and it's the only orientation of tubes that makes sense here
Wouldn’t worry. It’s a pain to bleed air from the loop as the reservoir is also very small. So I’d just use it how you need too and just spend a bit longer bleeding the air from the loop
Hello, its possible to install a display on this waterblock ? Thanks
@@marcusgoncalves4225 Yeah I mean if you want to stick a display on top of it no reason why not.
sad its sold out i want one fpr mys am5
Ek prices are insane. Lovely product though but barrow and bykski also have this but way cheaper. The best wishes to you.
They are but I think this is more flexible and better quality.
Yeah, if EK came up with this design and it was a unique product, they could be justified in charging whatever they want for it. However, they're just the copycats and it's simply their brand name they believe justifies a rip off.
It has actually been reduced recently. I was thinking of getting it as it's like 200 euros which is cheaper than me buying a block and separate res and fittings
If I'm not mistaken, the other brands can work on both amd and Intel, eks is socket specific, which is a waste.
I literally just returned this last week. I was originally gonna build in the NR200 but went with the A4-H20 instead & unfortunately this was too big to fit.
AM5 is backwards compatible with AM#
@@ExileXCross Not with all coolers it’s not, especially if they use custom backplates.
@@CrazyTechLab that said this pump/block combo clearly isn't one of those exceptions.
Yo Bykski made the same thing almost a year ago and its cheaper and better 😂😂😂 EK taking notes i see
model bykski please?
barrow and byksi are for plebs
modultra lobo overkill size
0:50 Disclaimer: you will never save money with that thing.
nice
It's almost a crime to ask that kind of money when you know this isn't even an original product. The sheer audacity of EK to basically copy someone else's design and charge exorbitant amounts of money as if this is a unique product that you can only get from EK is disgusting. PC building is getting ridiculously expensive and a lot of the blame is on enthusiasts who can't help themselves but buy things that are simply excessive for their use cases.
For example, some Intel fanboy wants to brag about their new Intel rig so Intel ramps up power consumption to 300W+ just to say they have the BEST enthusiast CPU and now the motherboard manufacturer can charge $400 for an entry level board but cause of the VRM requirements and another $200 is needen for a 360 AIO. Same is true for power hungry GPUs with melting connectors.
It's not that similar to the others really. All apart from Barrowch's latest one lack side ports and look totally different. Pretty sure this one was released in a similar time frame to the EK www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/p/Barrow-OLED-Display-CPU-Waterblock-with-17W-PWM-Pump-and-Monitor-5v-aRGB-INTEL-Clear-Black_81611.html
i installed my velocity 2 upside down and it performs the same