It was only about a quarter of a year ago that the EK AIO Elite fought its way to the top of the cooling solutions in my charts, and now they are delivering what is now the third version for a lower price range with the Basic series. Completely black and without RGB lighting, it might not only be interesting for price-conscious buyers. Whether the 360 and 240mm variants can also score in terms of performance, you can find out in the following review:
Packaging and scope of delivery
As for the exterior, you keep exactly the same design as the Elite AiO. Only the render images, description and specification table have been replaced. Everything is black and white, the orange stripe and EK logo are the only splashes of color. As before, there are exact dimensions of the radiator and pump block, a brief feature description and exploded view of the pump on the back.
The first differences and cost savings then become apparent on the inside, as there is no large foam block awaiting us there, just the image of the old familiar cardboard casing. Unfortunately, they still don’t seem to have thought of the fact that not every fan and small part needs its own plastic bag as packaging. Of course also sealed again!
Also the accessories are practically unchanged, besides the necessary mounting material and various screws there is a PWM splitter cable and extra tube of thermal paste. Manageable, again each individually packaged and perfectly adequate.
A first look at the fully equipped complete water cooling system itself may now finally be caught. The dark design is carried through to the details, only the EK logo on the pump block and fans as well as a silver ring on the connections of the hoses are not black.
The radiator survived the transport mostly well, but especially the side with the hoses has some irregularities. Such blemishes do not affect the performance, but are clearly visible depending on the mounting direction of the radiator. However, since the Basic series is probably more aimed at owners of systems without illumination or otherwise dark, something like this should hardly be noticeable.
Assembly and installation
Fortunately, also unchanged is the procedure for mounting the water cooling or pump block on the processor. Despite the budget requirement, the thermal paste is again pre-applied, the coldplate milled flat underneath:
For the audio-visual heads, EK immediately refers to the installation video of the first series in the very detailed manual:
The two AM4 brackets are mounted to the bottom of the pump block with four screws. Four more screws, which also serve as spacers, go into the backplates of the mainboard and the pump block on top. Another four spring-loaded screws are tightened by hand for the appropriate contact pressure.
The only point of criticism remains that the springs are not firmly connected to the final wheel screws, as is the case with some other manufacturers, but are supplied loose. Also, the stacked ports on the pump block are a bit unusual and a bit impractical for side mounting. Should the AiO move to the front or top, however, the layout is rather less of an issue. By the way, rubber pads or other decoupling of the Vardar-S fans is also not present, but that was also not in the EK AIO Elite.
Specifications
As always, all technical details and other information can be found on the manufacturer’s website, here is a comparison between the data of the Basic and Elite variant:
|
|
EK AIO Basic |
EK AIO Elite |
|
Radiator |
395 x 120 x 27 mm |
395 x 120 x 27 mm |
|
Pump |
850 – 2600 RPM ± 10% |
1000 – 3300 RPM ± 10% |
|
Pump block |
88 x 70 x 53 mm PETG + ABS, plastic |
88 x 70 x 64 mm Nickel, metal |
|
Fan |
3x Vardar S 120 Dark Edition 550 – 2200 ± 10% |
6x Vardar S 120 D-RGB 550 – 2200 ± 10% |
|
Volume |
33.5dBA |
36.4dBA |
|
Air pressure |
2.89 mm H20 = 28.9 Pa |
2.89 mm H20 = 28.9 Pa |
|
Volume |
77 CFM = 131 m³/h |
66.04 CFM = 112.20 m³/h |
So according to the specs, the fans should be slightly quieter without RGB, but produce more volume at the same static pressure and speed. Since the fans – apart from the color and missing lighting – seem to be absolutely identical to the RGB version, I asked EK. So the information may be corrected again.
18 Antworten
Kommentar
Lade neue Kommentare
Mitglied
Mitglied
Mitglied
Mitglied
Moderator
Moderator
Mitglied
Moderator
Neuling
Mitglied
Mitglied
Moderator
Moderator
Mitglied
Neuling
Moderator
Mitglied
Mitglied
Alle Kommentare lesen unter igor´sLAB Community →