Look, I am not happy with where prices are in the DIY watercooling field, but the companies making these products are probably feeling worse. Raw material costs have gone up over 50% year over year, with copper nearly doubling in price since last year. Add to that COVID-related logistics issues and the bill of materials for GPU blocks has been ever increasing. By this logic alone, seeing the EK-Classic at $140 compared to the ~$110–125 a couple of years ago does not seem that big of a price hike at all.

What happened instead was competition and a larger market driving down prices within the last decade, before a stagnating market coupled with ever-increasing material costs reversed said trend. The average GPU block now costs $150+, and many do not include a backplate at that price point, either. It just so happened that two of the first three companies being represented here do, and it is only one set from Alphacool that comes in at $5 less, though it also includes a backplate. The Alphacool offering also does better in terms of installation, including product-specific hardware and a printed manual in the box. Performance is in favor of EK, but the Alphacool Eisblock GPX Aurora has a lower pressure drop across. It's a shame that the Alphacool block looks so busy that the EK-Classic actually is a viable option in this price range.

The CORSAIR set is more expensive, but also includes a backplate and is the most user-friendly of the lot. On the other end of the budget spectrum is EK's own Quantum Vector lineup that is $35 more for the block, and $5 more on top for the black anodized backplate version. You do get more options to choose from in terms of PCB support as well as the block top, backplate, and a copper-only cold plate, but the cooling engine is exactly the same, and hilariously, the lighting is worse there than on this more budget-minded offering. Unless you absolutely like the EK-Quantum Vector aesthetics, you should just get the EK-Classic itself when it comes to the Slovenian brand, and maybe use the savings to get the accompanying backplate too.