EK Planning To Enter The Air Cooling Market

[Uskompuf]

EK Waterblocks has unveiled a new air cooler design at their Computex 2020 replacement, EK Cooling Expo. The company released one image of a prototype cooler which appears to include 4 heat pipes and an EK branded fan. EK representatives confirmed to Overclock 3D that the EK heatsink has not been finalized and is still undergoing product design. EK didn't say if they are planning other models or announce pricing/availability of the heatsink. Will EK become a serious competitor in the air cooling market against established players such as Noctua?

Update 09:34 UTC: EK has confirmed that they will be introducing both single and dual-tower models in the EK-AIR series of products, which will feature modern D-RGB lighting, premium build quality, modern aesthetics, and great cooling.



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[Vayra86]

Yay another 212

 

[tabascosauz]

The company released one image of a prototype cooler which appears to include 8 heat pipes and an EK branded fan.

That's not 8 heatpipes...that's 4. By that account, the U12A and DRP4 would have 14 heatpipes each.

This is literally going to be a more expensive 212 that cools the same as a 212, with a Be Quiet-esque top plate that isn't nearly as quiet as any of Be Quiet's coolers, and Noctua Secufirm-style spring-loaded screws without any of the convenience or strength of the Secufirm system. Essentially, the worst of all worlds from a company that's nowadays known for neither quality nor value.

 

[maxfly]

The way they have jacked up their prices I can only imagine what it will cost.

 

[dj-electric]

If EK will overprice their aircoolers like they do their WC stuff, they can give up in advance.
Nobody is going to be as nice to them in this market

 

[Chrispy_]

I mean, it's not like they could do much worse than Corsair is it?

Let's look at the A500 again shall we?

1. Super expensive, even compared to 140mm coolers.
2. Violates the keep-out zone making it incompatible with a few popular boards.
3. RAM clearance solved by moving the fan up, reducing cooling potential, rather than having a swept-back design that maintains full cooling.
4. HOLY SH1TBALLS, is it loud or what? Matching other coolers in performance shouldn't come at the expense of noise. 2400RPM when the competition is at ~1500?!!
5. Build quality. Seriously, if two of the mainstream review sites complain that the heatpipes aren't even lined up flat, that's pretty damn embarassing QC.

 

[Otonel88]

With the Vardar fans they don't stand a chance agains the competition. (noisy fans)

 

[Calmmo]

Doubt it'll be worth it. It's gonna be overpriced, it's a brand no-one in the mainstream knows, and considering how bad their AiO coolers have been I'm not so sure these will be even good.

 

[Nephilim666]

This is the truth. I have 1 EK Vardar and 9 Noctua A12x25's, can't hear the noctuas except under heavy load, can hear the EK from min rpm and up.

With the Vardar fans they don't stand a chance agains the competition. (noisy fans)

 

[freeagent]

For a company as renowned as they are, I am truly surprised to see that this is the best they can come up with. Outsourcing to other suppliers.. and of all the cooler styles, this is what they chose? What a joke. I have to question their liquid cooling stuff too now. Which is tough because I don't water cool, so now I have to think EK just makes junk? Did they choose this so that people would buy their liquid stuff later because air cooling sucks? At least this lesson has taught me not to give EK money if that is the case, which it most likely is.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

If EK will overprice their aircoolers like they do their WC stuff, they can give up in advance.
Nobody is going to be as nice to them in this market

Haha, I was going to post something along the lines of "Gee, I wonder if these will be overpriced?".

EK doesn't make bad products, but I've always felt their popularity is artificial and largely caused by their overwhelming presence in YouTube tech channel builds early on.... A bunch of people wanting to watercool saw EK in 8 out of 10 builds on YouTube, conflate popularity with quality, and buy the same EK products, and repeat in a self reinforcing feedback loop.

One of the best sites for watercooling reviews was thermalbench, and in the vast majority of reviews, EKs blocks would be continually outperformed by Watercool's Heatkiller line as well as aquacomputer, but it doesn't seem to translate in popularity, but then again if quality had anything to do with popularity, McDonald's wouldnt be where they are today.

 

[kapone32]

Haha, I was going to post something along the lines of "Gee, I wonder if these will be overpriced?".

EK doesn't make bad products, but I've always felt their popularity is artificial and largely caused by their overwhelming presence in YouTube tech channel builds early on.... A bunch of people wanting to watercool saw EK in 8 out of 10 builds on YouTube, conflate popularity with quality, and buy the same EK products, and repeat in a self reinforcing feedback loop.

One of the best sites for watercooling reviews was thermalbench, and in the vast majority of reviews, EKs blocks would be continually outperformed by Watercool's Heatkiller line as well as aquacomputer, but it doesn't seem to translate in popularity, but then again if quality had anything to do with popularity, McDonald's wouldnt be where they are today.

Propaganda at it's finest.

 

[Mescalamba]

Hmm... against whom they want to compete. For sure wont be Noctua.

 

[claes]

One of the best sites for watercooling reviews was thermalbench, and in the vast majority of reviews, EKs blocks would be continually outperformed by Watercool's Heatkiller line as well as aquacomputer, but it doesn't seem to translate in popularity, but then again if quality had anything to do with popularity, McDonald's wouldnt be where they are today.

Don't know if you know but VSG of thermalbench is actually here now

 

[Haile Selassie]

Expect the usual +40% EK markup on a off the shelf 212 Evo carbon copy.

 

[VSG]

Don't know if you know but VSG of thermalbench is actually here now

 

[rtwjunkie]

Yay another 212

‘Cuz there aren’t quite enough air coolers in the market already.