Today we are having a look at the EK-XLC Predator 240, the first AIO liquid cooling solution from EKWB. EKWB is a company that specializes in and is known by their custom liquid cooling products, but with the EK-XLC Predator 240, the company is trying to bring the performance of their custom liquid cooling solutions to the AIO market. We are thoroughly examining and comparing their new product in this review.

Introduction

Ever since liquid cooling became a small trend in the 90's, when enthusiasts were using car radiators and aquarium pumps to cool down their heavily overclocked Athlons and Durons, many companies were founded, focused on custom advanced cooling solutions. However the combination of the relatively high cost and complexity of a liquid cooling system, plus the increasing energy efficiency of modern processors, kept demand for such systems and parts low. As a result, very few of these companies survived to this date. EK Water Blocks, or EKWB for short, is one of them.

EKWB is a company that originates from Slovenia. They are one of the oldest liquid-cooling focused companies around and today they are certainly one of the most popular PC custom liquid cooling manufacturers. They are mainly focused on designing individual liquid cooling parts, such as motherboard and GPU-specific cooling blocks, reservoirs and radiators. However, the bulk of the interest on liquid cooling systems today is on all-in-one (AIO) solutions that are ready to be installed and operate with little knowledge beyond knowing how to install a basic PC. EKWB has realized that and recently released two ready-to-go AIO cooling kits with a twist - these can also be upgraded and expanded. Today we are having a look at the EK-XLC Predator 240, the "small" kit that is featuring a 240 mm radiator.

Packaging & Bundle

The cardboard box that the Predator 240 came in is not particularly strong but the product is very well protected within a plastic shell inside it, ensuring that it will be delivered without damage. The artwork is simple, direct and elegant, mainly focused on a picture of the unit itself and it promotes its most significant features.

EKWB supplies the most basic bundle that we have ever seen coming with an AIO cooler. Inside the box we only found the power cable that is necessary to power the unit (a derivative of a SATA power cable), a few mounting screws, a Torx driver, thermal paste and a user's guide. The user's guide is by far the most interesting piece of the bundle, being well-written and illustrated, making it very useful. Note however that certain parts of the guide assume that the user is a fairly advanced DIY enthusiast, suggesting, for example, the removal of the CPU's lid or the internal cleaning of the water block. The instructions are detailed enough for an advanced user to partake such tasks, describing the process and the tools/chemicals/substances that may be necessary. However, several of these recommendations are absolutely not for amateurs and could result to major equipment damage when not performed adequately.

The EKWB EK-XLC Predator 240

At first sight, the EK-XLC Predator 240 appears very similar to AIOs that we have seen and tested before. A closer look however reveals that this kit is a fully modular liquid cooling system, with the main difference being that it has been pre-assembled at the factory. The hoses are removable and there are fluid filling and air bubble draining ports. Perhaps the only thing that it has it resembling a typical AIO system is that the fluid pump is merged with the radiator.

The CPU block is relatively simple and very small compared to other AIO systems, as it has no pump on it. It is made of a Plexiglass top with a metallic cover, with a steel retention brace and a copper base. The hoses can be removed in order to add more parts or clean the block, but they need to be inserted at the same holes again. Reversing the hoses has a strong impact on performance, reducing it by nearly 20%. Note that the EK-XLC Predator 240 can only be installed on Intel LGA1150, LGA1155, LGA1156 and LGA1366 CPUs, with LGA2011 support available if extra parts are purchased. None of AMD's CPUs are currently supported.

EKWB machined the copper base of the block down to a perfect mirror finish. It is almost a shame that copper is very soft and the perfect finish will be impaired when the block gets mounted on a CPU even once. Inside the block we found a metallic flow guidance plate, forcing the fluid to enter the microchannels from the center and exit from the sides. It is very well machined, without imperfections.

EKWB suggests in the manual that the microchannels should be cleaned in order to maintain maximum performance, however we strongly advice against such action by anyone who is not a liquid cooling expert. The process requires draining the system, opening the block carefully, cleaning it with specific solvents and resealing it. A new user to such a process should be extremely careful when refilling the system, and perhaps read/watch online guides, or the user will have to deal with leaks from improper sealing.

The radiator assembly comprises most parts of the system, as it includes the fluid pump, the air flow fans and the power controls. The pump is attached to the edge of the radiator, on a plastic frame that also serves as a basic fluid tank. The height of the pump encourages the presence of two cooling fans at the top side of the radiator, and two fans are preinstalled in a pull configuration. EKWB clearly assumes that the radiator will be installed at the top of a case, pulling air out of the case. The position of the pump also prevents the radiator from being installed vertically, as the pump will be unable to circulate the fluid, especially if the system is not filled to the brim and air removed.

There are two fluid filling and air bubble draining ports on the radiator, one next to the pump and one on the other side of the metallic body. If the user wants to drain and refill the system for any reason, be it for an upgrade or maintenance, the system has to be refilled from the port on the side of the radiator, while the radiator is standing upright. Once filled, the Predator 240 has to be powered on and the port next to the pump needs to be opened, draining the air and adding fluid if necessary. Both ports require a 6 mm hex key to be opened. The user needs to be very careful and gentle when closing the port next to the pump, as the body is plastic and it can be easily destroyed by the high torque of the 6 mm tool. The other port is on the metal body and is much more robust.

There is just one issue with the radiator which users might face - the thickness. The radiator and fan assembly is 68 mm thick, which is considerably thicker than what most case manufacturers have taken into account. There are cases that are designed to hold 240 mm radiators at their top panels but do not accommodate this kind of clearance. We strongly suggest checking the clearance of the case before purchasing this unit, or make sure that the case is in the EKWB's compatibility list.

The power control board near the edge of the radiator is small, simple and very clever. It powers the fans and the pump from a single SATA power cable, getting rid of the cable mess. It gets a PWM signal from a single motherboard fan header and adjusts the speed of the fans and of the fluid pump. If no signal wire is attached, the assembly will just constantly operate at maximum speed.

What is odd about the power controller is that there is a single extra header for a third fan. As the EK-XLC Predator 240 is a dual fan radiator, the reasonable move would be to have two extra headers, in case someone wants to install two more fans for a push-pull configuration. Nevertheless, it is likely installed it there with a secondary (e.g. case) fan in mind. 

Testing methodology

Although the testing of a cooler appears to be a simple task, that could not be much further from the truth. Proper thermal testing cannot be performed with a cooler mounted on a single chip, for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons include the instability of the thermal load and the inability to fully control and or monitor it, as well as the inaccuracy of the chip-integrated sensors. It is also impossible to compare results taken on different chips, let alone entirely different systems, which is a great problem when testing computer coolers, as the hardware changes every several months. Finally, testing a cooler on a typical system prevents the tester from assessing the most vital characteristic of a cooler, its absolute thermal resistance.

The absolute thermal resistance defines the absolute performance of a heatsink by indicating the temperature rise per unit of power, in our case in degrees Celsius per Watt (°C/W). In layman's terms, if the thermal resistance of a heatsink is known, the user can assess the highest possible temperature rise of a chip over ambient by simply multiplying the maximum thermal design power (TDP) rating of the chip with it. Extracting the absolute thermal resistance of a cooler however is no simple task, as the load has to be perfectly even, steady and variable, as the thermal resistance also varies depending on the magnitude of the thermal load. Therefore, even if it would be possible to assess the thermal resistance of a cooler while it is mounted on a working chip, it would not suffice, as a large change of the thermal load can yield much different results.

Appropriate thermal testing requires the creation of a proper testing station and the use of laboratory-grade equipment. Therefore, we created a thermal testing platform with a fully controllable thermal energy source that may be used to test any kind of cooler, regardless of its design and or compatibility. The thermal cartridge inside the core of our testing station can have its power adjusted between 60 W and 340 W, in 2 W increments (and it never throttles). Furthermore, monitoring and logging of the testing process via software minimizes the possibility of human errors during testing. A multifunction data acquisition module (DAQ) is responsible for the automatic or the manual control of the testing equipment, the acquisition of the ambient and the in-core temperatures via PT100 sensors, the logging of the test results and the mathematical extraction of performance figures.

Finally, as noise measurements are a bit tricky, their measurement is being performed only manually. Fans can have significant variations in speed from their rated values, thus their actual speed during the thermal testing is being acquired via a laser tachometer. The fans (and pumps, when applicable) are being powered via an adjustable, fanless desktop DC power supply and noise measurements are being taken 1 meter away from the cooler, in a straight line ahead from its fan engine. At this point we should also note that the Decibel scale is logarithmic, which means that roughly every 3 dB(A) the sound pressure doubles. Therefore, the difference of sound pressure between 30 dB(A) and 60 dB(A) is not "twice as much" but nearly a thousand times greater. The table below should help you cross-reference our test results with real-life situations.

The noise floor of our recording equipment is 30.2-30.4 dB(A), which represents a medium-sized room without any active noise sources. All of our acoustic testing takes place during night hours, minimizing the possibility of external disruptions.

*noise levels above this are not suggested for daily use

Testing results, maximum fan speed (12 Volts)

The EKWB EK-XLC Predator 240 is displaying excellent thermal performance in relation to its noise level output, especially under heavy loads. Its average thermal resistance of 0.0752 °C/W matches the performance of the Cooler Master Nepton 280L, a larger and much louder AIO cooler. From all of the AIO coolers that we have ever tested, only Corsair's H100i GTX manages to outperform the EK-XLC Predator 240, by just 0.002 °C/W at the expense of 5.5 dB(A).

As it can be seen from the above charts, the EK-XLC Predator 240 is one of the quietest dual fan AIO liquid coolers that we have tested to this date. At 43.2dB(A), the fans are clearly audible, but they are not overly loud and should not distract the user from gaming or similar tasks. Considering that the Vardar fans are using dual ball bearings, these can be very reliable but it is also a relatively noisy type of bearing - it is interesting that the noise figures are this low.

Furthermore, what the charts fail to communicate is the pump's high pitch whining noise, which adds little to the dB(A) but is uncomfortable. The high pitch noise coming from liquid pumps is a very common problem for AIO coolers. But actually this may be the greatest advantage of the EK-XLC Predator 240, as the pump is imperceptible with the noise of the fans overshadowing it entirely. 

Testing results, low fan speed (7 Volts)

At first sight, the thermal performance of EK-XLC Predator 240 with a supply of 7 Volts does not appear to be stellar. With an average thermal resistance of 0.0958 °C/W, it falls to the seventh place of the chart and appears at a disadvantage against most other dual fan coolers under heavy loads. The other coolers that are directly on par with its thermal performance are mainly older designs, such as the Corsair H100i and the first revision of SilverStone's TD02. More recent designs, such as the Corsair H100i GTX, and models with dual 140 mm fan radiators, appear to have a notable thermal performance advantage.

The catch is that, under these operating conditions, the EK-XLC Predator 240 is the quietest AIO cooler that we have ever tested to this date. Our instruments recorded just 35.1 dB(A), a barely audible figure that combats even the best low-noise CPU cooler designs. The coolers that displayed significantly greater thermal performance are also much louder. As the dB(A) scale is logarithmic, the pressure triples for every increase of 3 dB(A), so the actual difference in comparison to the top performers is vast. 

Conclusion

According to EKWB, they wanted the EK-XLC Predator 240 to be a design focused on the "enthusiast level AIO cooler" segment, made of high performance components that would mimic the performance of a custom liquid cooling system. While we cannot claim that it could really rival a custom liquid cooling system carefully designed for maximum performance, the EK-XLC Predator 240 does perform very well in comparison to other AIO coolers. Its thermal performance does not look stellar at first, but the superiority of the EK-XLC Predator 240 becomes apparent when the noise figures are compared. The noiseless pump is, in our opinion, the greatest performance advantage of the EK-XLC Predator 240, as whiny pumps are a common and large issue for the majority of AIO coolers. We feel that the EK-XLC Predator 240 will be loved by those who want the best possible thermal performance at low/inaudible noise levels.

EKWB is particularly proud about the quality and the expandability of the EK-XLC Predator 240. Our examination revealed that it is a high quality product, well designed and assembled, made of good parts and a particularly good high performance pump. However, it is not impeccable. There are quality flaws, such as the draining port next to the pump - the threads of this are on the plastic frame and can be destroyed very easily by the high torque of the tool. The company needs to clearly inform the user that this port is very sensitive and it should be tightened very gently. Also, if the water block is disassembled, as the company suggests it should for cleaning, it is not easy to reseal it without proper tools and equipment. If it is just put together again, without treating the flange and tightening the screws with a specific torque and in rotation, it is very likely that it will start leaking.

Regarding the expandability of the system, that is a rather grey area. It is always good to have an upgradable setup but, the truth is, there is no reason for someone who considers future upgrades not to go for a custom liquid cooling setup to begin with. A custom cooling setup would perform just as well, if not better, and provide maximum versatility for about the same cost. If the EK-XLC Predator 240 is to be drained and disassembled, the lack of a proper reservoir makes it even more difficult to work with. It appears more sensible to deal with the added complexity of designing and building a custom liquid cooling system now than having to deal with disassembling and putting back together the EK-XLC Predator 240 in the future.

It appears that EKWB is trying to fit too many eggs into one basket with the EK-XLC Predator 240. They want it to be appealing to the amateur who wants a simple but high performance cooling solution, to the enthusiast who wants top grade hardware and to the expert that wants to tweak and upgrade it. In our opinion, EKWB is failing to satisfy the bulk of the AIO cooler market, which consists of casual users who want something better than air cooling but simple enough to install and maintain, all without breaking the bank. The EK-XLC Predator 240 is clearly aimed towards a portion of enthusiasts only: those who are not going to back down once they gaze on the price tag. This is also ascertained by the instructions and suggestions found in the manual, which are definitely not for amateurs. The only problem is that such advanced users would have no problem buying individual parts and designing their own liquid cooling system.

In summary, EKWB effectively designed a high quality AIO liquid cooler that can offer relatively good thermal performance at very low noise levels. It also is expandable, if the user ever decides to divulge deeper in the world of advanced cooling. The primary issue here is, and the company is not hiding it at all, that the EK-XLC Predator 240 is considerably more expensive than most other AIO liquid coolers. The current retail price of the EK-XLC Predator 240 matches its MSRP as well, selling for $199 including shipping. This is nearly twice as expensive as its main competitors, such as the Corsair H100i GTX ($110) and the SilverStone Tundra TD02 ($100). It is up to each individual user to decide whether the slightly better overall performance and promise of expandability is worth such a price.