EK has been making some of the best and most well-known computer watercooling products for many years and within the past few years have been bundling their highly reliable and popular products for purchase in kits available through both their online store and other retailers. These kits include everything you need to get started in watercooling. The latest kit available from EK is the H3O setup; the main points of this kit are the Supreme HF CPU water block, arguably the best CPU block produced, and the CoolStream XTX radiator, EK’s full size radiator. The H30 kit is available with either a 240mm radiator or a 360mm radiator. This overview will be about the 360mm radiator version of the kit.
The kit includes the following items:
1 x EK Supreme HF CPU water block
1 x EK Universal CPU Backplate
1 x EK CoolStream XTX 360 Radiator (or XTX 240 for the 240mm kit)
3 x EK Silent Fan 120mm, 1600rpm fan (2 for the 240mm kit)
1 x EK DCP 4.0 Pump with Mounting Kit
1 x EK Multioption RES X2 150 Basic Reservoir
1 x Masterkleer 13mm OD x 10mm ID clear water tubing (2 meters)
10 x EK PSC 10mm ID G1/4 thread Nickel Compression Fittings
Now that we’ve gotten into what the kit includes, let’s take a look at what each individual part in the kit is.
EK Supreme HF CPU Water Block
The EK Supreme HF has arguably been the best CPU water block for a few years now. It, in general, is available with either a pure copper or electroless nickel plated copper cold plate, 6 different interchangeable jet plates to direct where on the cold plate the coolant goes (although most overclockers and enthusiasts will agree that the plate that comes installed in the block from the factory is the best one, this enthusiast included,) and a top with inlet and outlet holes made of either black acetal or clear (or differently colored translucent) plexi. This particular kit comes with the copper cold plate and clear plexi top options.
EK Universal Backplate
Not really much to say about this part other than it’s an aluminum backplate that allows the Supreme HF to be used on all currently available CPU sockets.
EK Coolstream XTX Radiator
The Coolstream XTX line of radiators are a line of full thickness (64mm) radiator that allows for the maximum amount of heat dissipation with quiet, low airflow (but high static pressure) fans. Although this kit includes a 360mm unit, the Coolstream XTX Radiators are available in 120, 240, 360, and 480 mm sizes.
Technical details:
Material:
- Copper fins
- 90% copper tube (H90)
- Brass chambers
- Steel housing
Dimensions (LxWxH): 400x130x64mm
Weight: Approx. 1496g
FPI: 11
Fan installation: 12 x M3 threads on both sides each (for 3x120mm fan each)
Pressure tested: 1 bar
EK Silent 120mm Fan
The kit includes EK’s branded fan that spins at a maximum rotation of 1600 rpm. This particular fan is a low noise, high static pressure fan that is well designed for use in a full-thickness radiator such as the Coolstream XTX.
Technical data:
- Air Flow: 58.8 CFM = 100 m³/h
- Sleeved cable length: 500 mm
- Connector: 3 Pin Molex
- Current: 0.12 A
- Voltage: 12 V
- Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
- Weigh: 116 g
- Fan Speed: 1600 RPM
- Noise Level: 25.8 dBA
- Static Pressure: 1.7mm H2O
EK DCP 4.0 Pump
The EK DCP 4.0 Pump is a quiet 12 DC pump capable of giving adequate water flow and pressure to most single block cooling loops. The pump is reliable and designed to last a long time under normal conditions.
Rated voltage: DC12V +/-10%
Starting voltage: DC 8V above
Power Consumption: 18W +/-10%
Load current: 1.8A +/-10%
Q-max: 800 L/hr +/-10%
H-max.: 4m +/-10%
Size: 75 x 54 x 66mm
Life Expectancy: 50000/hrs at 25°
Noise: 24.5 dB
Weight: 670g
EK Multioption RES X2 Basic
The EK Multioption RES X2 (or 2nd Generation) Basic Reservoir gives you multiple options to place G1/4 threaded fittings and plugs to best fit your loop. The Basic version has 3 ports on the bottom section (2 on bottom, 1 on the side) and 1 port at the top. The unit included in the H3O kit is the 150mm length unit, which holds 160ml of coolant. The Reservoir also comes with all necessary mounting hardware.
Technical data:
- Installation height: 150 mm
- Diameter: 60mm
- Capacity: 160 ml
- Weight (net): 0.27 kg
Masterkleer Water Tubing
Masterkleer has always been a leader in tubing, primarily for computer liquid cooling. It is available in different inside and outside diameters, as well as several colors. This kit includes 2 meters of clear tubing with an inside diameter of 10mm and an outside diameter of 13mm.
PVC tube
Internal diameter (ID): 10mm (3/8″)
Outer diameter (OD): 13mm (1/2″)
EK PSC Compression Fittings
Compression fittings have become widely popular in the liquid cooling world. They give you the ability to use tubing that is the same size, or slightly larger than, the barbs of the fitting, then compressing down the tubing to give a water tight seal, for the purpose of easily removing the tubing from the fitting is necessary. The H30 kit includes 8 fitting in nickel finish for use with 10mm ID x 13mm OD tubing.
Technical data:
- Thread: G1/4
- Outer diameter of fitting: 19-19,3mm
- Length: 26mm
- G1/4 thread length: 4,5mm
- Inlet hole ID: 10mm
For tubes:
Metric:
- ID 10mm; OD 13mm
- ID 9,5mm; OD 12,7mm
Inch:
- ID 3/8″; OD 1/2″
The kit also includes a 100ml bottle of concentrated EK UV Blue anti-microbial coolant for use as an additive to distilled water and a 2 gram tube of thermal interface material, usually including TIM manufactured by Gelid.
I personally have not used this particular kit in a system before, but have used its compact (thinner) radiator counterpart and absolutely have loved the results. I’ve also used the XTX Radiator as part of a custom loop involving parts from other vendors and I was very happy with the results from it, so I’m very excited to see how it performs with other parts from the EK brand.
I only have one real issue with this kit and that’s the fact that I don’t feel they include enough tubing. 2 meters (roughly 6 feet) only gives you a few inches of leftover tubing if you really plan your loop thoroughly before constructing it. You will run out if you make a mistake, I can almost promise it. That being said, a 3 meter retail pack of clear Masterkleer tubing in this size only runs about $10, and will then give you some extra if you have any damaged or dried out tubing on down the road, but it would have been nice for them to just include it.
Also, I’m not much of one for additives, such as dyes, as some have a tendency to discolor and clog your tubing and blocks. I generally just use distilled water with some sort of anti-fungal/anti-microbial additive (such as silver coils) instead of any dyes, so I’ve never had any experience with the dye included in this kit. I honestly think it would have been a better option for them to leave it out.
Despite these two MINOR gripes, I don’t either are enough of an issue to detract from this kit, and therefore I have great pleasure in giving it the Minidigita Gold Award.
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