Radiator

The radiator is in a nondescript cardboard box with an accessory pouch on the side. The pouch contains eight 6 mm and eight 30 mm long screws with a hex head each, which means the Allen key can help with their installation. As such, EKWB provides enough screws to use the fans in push or pull and intake or exhaust configurations.


The radiator comes in a plastic wrap to keep it dust free, and this is another place where there is a significant mass saving over the copper version. EKWB calls this the AluStream SE, with the closest retail product being their Coolstream SE 240, but without the boxy shroud. This is a typical U-flow, dual pass radiator with support for two square frame 120 mm fans on each side should you wish to buy two more fans and go push-pull. The end tank on one side has the two ports, both of which are BSP G1/4" threaded and interchangeable inlet or outlet ports. The radiator being aluminum, the shroud is riveted in place on the core as opposed to having been welded in place, which is the case with copper/brass radiators.


The fan holes are threaded 15 mm apart to fit with case holes as well, although the paint on the shroud is semi-glossy and can catch fingerprints and dust. The fan holes are located such that even longer screws than appropriate will only pierce the fins rather than a coolant tube, which keeps the radiator from leaking due to such a mishap.


The radiator core has twelve aluminum coolant tubes spanning the length of the radiator, with six per pass and each having an average diameter of ~2 mm. Between the coolant tubes is the fin stack that features ~55 micron thick aluminum fins that are louvered and have a ~18 FPI fin density. The core has a single row, which is as expected given it is 28 mm thick and is a better fit for custom watercooling in general than the EKWB CoolStream SE, which sacrificed cooling for space savings instead. I would not be surprised if this performs on par with the CoolStream SE 240 or even slightly better at low-medium airflow. EKWB's internal tests do claim cooling potential on par with the thicker CoolStream PE and better than the CoolStream SE, so take that for what you will.

Observant readers may have noted that there are no compression fittings in the package here, and this is what the two separately included ones in the main kit are for.

GPU Waterblock

The EK-AC (Alux Cover) Titan X Pascal is included with the Fluid Gaming 240G kit and comes in a very similar packaging as their retail GPU blocks. Take out the outer sleeve and open the inner box and you will see that the mounting hardware and manual are included here. The kit's manual does not cover the GPU block, thus making it a universal manual for the three kits, and as such, the manual here is an addendum to help with the installation of the GPU block itself. There are thermal pads in 0.5 mm and 1 mm thickness included, some of which are pre-cut to go on the VRAM modules, VRMs and capacitors on the GPU PCB. Also included are eight spring-loaded M2.5 screws, some plastic washers and metal nuts, and more metal M2.5 screws for the rest of the installation. There are also two spare stop plugs which are made out of acetal and come with a nitrile rubber O-ring each, and not pictured here is another tube of Ectotherm TIM that also comes with the GPU block.


Inside is the backplate first, which is made out of aluminum as with most GPU backplates and is covered with a plastic sheet on its external side. The backplate has a brushed finish and the EKWB logo in the bottom-right corner. The backplate is separated from the waterblock by a soft foam sheet, and we see two more compression fittings for the block to be used here. As such, there are a total of eight compression fittings provided for the eight ports on the four main components - CPU block, GPU block, radiator, and Reservoir/Pump combo unit.


The GPU block comes in a comically oversized plastic wrap, but better safe than sorry, I suppose! Once removed, you get to see a drastically different GPU block top from EKWB than before. The EK-AC Titan X Pascal does not have the rectangular, clean aesthetics the company is known for and instead uses angled edges that go up and come down, along with a fold of the aluminum metal at the periphery to give it a semi-open look if seen from the sides. Here too is a warning sticker about not mixing metals and using this with other aluminum parts only. The manifold cover has the GeForce GTX and EKWB logos on it, and I believe future plans are to have this be backlit as well.


This is a full-length, full-cover waterblock cooling the GPU core, VRAM, and VRMs alike. As with the CPU block, the aluminum cold plate does not have a mirror finish, but feels smooth to the touch and has the usual raised sections to contact the components mentioned above. There are sections that extend both sides to provide more standoffs (a total of 19) for uniform mounting pressure when installing, which is nice to see. For those preferring the old style terminal, the new EKWB manifold cover can easily be removed as it is held in place by two screws in total only.


There are a total of thirteen screws holding the top and cold plate together, and removing them, we get a good look inside. We also see that the large GPU block O-ring has good contact with the top, which keeps the coolant only flowing where it should. The I/O port terminal is held in place by three longer screws and also has two O-rings.


The internal design of this GPU block is quite different from EKWB's retail copper-based offerings, which definitely makes this more than a simple metal swap. For one, the jetplate is more of a jet nozzle with a wider inlet and thus, further acceleration of the coolant before it enters the microchannels over the GPU core. There is an O-ring here as well to ensure the coolant goes through the nozzle and nowhere else. Secondly, the microfins and channels are not their usual rows arranged uniformly as a rectangle, with a more V-shaped design featuring multiple rows that are smaller in size as you progress towards the end. The angled rows mean the coolant is naturally directed in its path of travel as opposed to coming to a dead stop and then being forced to the right as with the previous design, and EKWB says the nozzle and fin structure to have been optimized with the aluminum metal factored in. The third and biggest change visually is in the VRM cooling stage, wherein differently sized protrusions extending inward add surface area for heat transfer without being restrictive enough to significantly lower coolant flow rate. Oh, and there is an EKWB logo here, too, to remind you of who made this, albeit in a location where coolant does not get to. It does tell us that this design came about in 2016, so the Fluid Gaming kits have been in the works for a while now.

When re-assembling, just remember to put the O-rings back in place if they got dislodged and reverse these steps accordingly. As always, TechPowerUp is not liable for any issues that arise from your disassembly of the waterblock.


Lastly, remember to use the spare stop plugs on the two ports that are not in use as the manifold here has four ports to choose from. The coolant flow is best with an inlet from the left side as seen from the front and an outlet from the right side.

Finally, a note on all the mass savings from switching over to aluminum: I brought this up a few times before already, but here is a quantitative number - the GPU block and backplate are 320 grams lighter than the EK-FC Titan X Pascal version, and the CPU block is another 80 grams lighter than the EKWB Supremacy MX. The aluminum radiator is 320 grams lighter than the CoolStream SE 240, and the fittings are each ~15 grams lighter than their respective brass versions. Overall, there is ~2.13 kg less mass in your system, which brings up a potential new customer base - system integrators and PC builders who have to ship pre-assembled, fully watercooled computers.