INTRODUCTION

   Roughly 5-6 years ago the only people i knew who had custom water cooling kits/loops installed in their systems had either chosen to do so because they wanted to show-off or because they didn't know what to do with their money (i remember a couple who even went out and bought three of the extremely expensive liquid Freon solutions which as some of you are well aware never really made it in the market in large numbers). Today things have changed and so with the advancements in processing power (applies for both CPUs and GPUs) heat has become an even greater problem and so many people including enthusiasts, serious gamers, professionals and overclockers turn both towards AIO liquid CPU coolers and complete water cooling kits for something more in cooling performance. Custom water cooling kits/loops are still at the top of the "food chain" however so today we will be taking a look at yet another such kit and more specifically the EK-KIT L360 by EK WaterBlocks.

   Our goal is to excel in a niche market of performance upgrades for computers. With continuous research and development, we have established a portfolio of products for water cooling. Quality and breathtaking design on the technological edge is our philosophy. From the beginning EK has released more than 250 products for you. Each product is its own piece of art, and high performance solution for water cooling users.

   If you have searched the market for a complete water cooling kit in the past or if you have just read some articles regarding such kits then EK Waterblocks needs no introductions since they are amongst the most popular brands in this segment of the market. The L360 kit that we have here with us today includes an 360mm triple-fan radiator as revealed by the kits name (CoolStream PE model), a small pump combined with a rather tiny reservoir (EK-DCP 2.2 X-RES model), copper water block (EK-Supreme LTX UNI CSQ 2013 model), three 1600RPM 120mm fans, 2 meters of their EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber tubing, compression fittings (EK-CSQ 16/10 model) and a bottle filled with concentrated coolant (EVO CLEAR model). Nothing seems to be missing from the box but what's really in our minds is just how good the L360 Kit really is and if it's able to surpass the two water cooling kits we've tested for far from XSPC so let's not spend any more time in the introduction page.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

EKWB ships the EK-KIT L360 inside a rather thin briefcase-like box with just their logo and kit name at the front.

The package contents along with the advantages of having the L360 kit and the mainboard compatibility list are placed at the rear.

Moving at the top you will find the company logo and 5 small icons which represent the parts of the kit.

As you can see every part of the kit is placed in its own cardboard box.

The kit includes everything mentioned in the introduction page so aside the 360mm radiator and its fan mounting screws (12 long and 12 short) you are also getting three 120mm fans (by Gelid / each comes with 4 case screws), pump/reservoir combo and its mounting brackets, 3pin to Molex power connector coolant bottle, water block, rubber tube, 6 compression fittings, thermal paste tube (again by Gelid), three backplates and a rubber cover, 4 Allen keys, a very detailed user’s manual (although somewhat old it should do the trick if this is your first kit), 24pin ATX bridge tool and all the necessary mounting screws for Intel LGA 2011/1366/1156/1155/775 and AMD FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2/940/939/754 mainboards.

THE EK-KIT L360

The 38mm thick triple-fan radiator is actually almost 396mm in length and 128mm in width (in case you're wondering the previous L360 kit featured a thicker 47mm radiator). This radiator has two G1/4 ports right next to the company logo (can't see it cause it's polished and shines too much).

As mentioned earlier the CoolStream PE model is smaller compared to the previous one used in the L360 kit but thanks to a double stack of copper fins it actually offers larger surface area.

Here we placed it right next to the RX360 V3 radiator by XSPC which as you can all see is quite larger and does offer more fin surface (we are really curious to see how these two compared to each other).

The pump/reservoir combo was a nice surprise since the XSPC kits we've received to date needed two 5.25" ODBs for their pump/reservoir combo.

This particular pump can circulate up to 400L of liquid per hour which is not bad for its size. Cleaning the reservoir is very easy as you can see and that will probably appeal to some people.

The pump has 4 anti-vibration feet which can be used to attach it onto the bundled mounts.

EKWB bundles their own UV Dark Blue liquid with the EK-KIT L360 and that's perhaps the one thing that had us puzzled for a while since the tubes bundled are pitch-black.

The EK-Supreme LTX UNI CSQ 2013 water block is the successor of the award winning EK-Supreme LT one and thanks to the 46 thin water channels it provides better cooling efficiency. The copper base comes polished and is very good in terms of quality (no machine marks whatsoever).

I was surprised to see that all of the compression fittings (i prefer this solution to that XSPC uses) have the EKWB logo on them.

Both 120mm Hydro-Dynamic bearing fans can spin up to 1600RPM produce 58.8CFM of airflow with just 25.8dBA of noise.

With the fans installed the radiator now measures 63mm in thickness.

INSTALLATION - FINISHED LOOKS

We decided to start the installation of the kit by mounting the water block (took less than 5 minutes to do so).

Next on the list was the radiator which was very easy to install since the 900D has room for radiators up to 480mm long.

Unfortunately since the entire tower is filled with 140mm fans by Noctua our only way out to install the pump/radiator combo was the one at the rear (140mm as well but it wasn't as hard to mount it there as it was in every other place).

According to the installation manual this is the correct placement of the tubings although we did think that connecting the pump with the top port of the waterblock was a better choice (not that it would really affect our results).

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY 

   Testing complete water cooling kits or individual radiators is no different than testing CPU Coolers and since we want all of you to be able to compare similar products we created new and separate charts (you can still cross-compare results however since we are using the same test rig). So once again single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests complete water cooling kits or radiators with bundled fans are measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. When testing complete water cooling kits we use the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. Finally much like when testing CPU Coolers it's very important to point out that just because a water cooling kit outperforms another when tested with our test rig (when we test complete water cooling kits) that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

     To successfully record the load temperatures we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp while the noise level tests (when fans exist in the bundle) are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the radiator. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   Testing of custom water cooling kits takes time not only because we need to install them and test them for leaks prior to us actually testing their performance but also because they cost more compared to AIO and regular air coolers so we feel we need to put more effort in testing such devices. Because of this we really took our time testing the EK-KIT L360 although right from the start just by reading the specifications sheet we knew that it would have a hard time competing with both XSPC kits we've used to date and we were right. The slight "problem" with the L360 kit doesn't have much to do with the quite good radiator since it offers a respectable amount of cooling surface, the problem lies with the two 120mm fans (quiet but lack air pressure and CFM) and the very small pump used which although quite good for its size it's just worlds apart compared to the X2O 750 used by XSPC which can move up to 750L per hour. Performance might just be what most of you are looking for but ease of installation is also very important as is the space required so although the EK-KIT L360 was unable to surpass the Raystorm 750 kits still we found it was quite easier to install while at the same time it took less space since it didn't require us to give up two front 5.25" optical drive bays to mount the pump/reservoir combo. We do realize that some of you may not have an issue with this but with so many available devices one can fit at the front bays (for example Blu-ray drives, card readers, sound card panel and fan controllers) we did like the approach EK WaterBlocks takes a bit more (XSPC also has something similar which we hope we can have here with us soon).

   As we speak EK WaterBlocks is out of stock for the EK-KIT L360 Water-Cooling Kit but that aside you can still backorder it for a price tag of 223.61Euros (plus shipping) directly from their online shop (if you reside in the USA the final price comes up to USD297) a price tag that lands it right between the Raystorm 750 EX280 and the Raystorm 750 RX360 V3 kits by XSPC. That being said if your PC case can fit the 360mm radiator of the EK-KIT L360 then i do recommend it over the Raystorm 750 EX280 purely because the second requires more room for the pump/radiator and is slightly louder. On the other hand however if you can afford to spend more for the Raystorm 750 RX360 V3 then it's a rather obvious choice. Overall however we can't deny that EK WaterBlocks has joined several of their products to create a very good Water-Cooling kit and although not the best out there still it combines enough features to get our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Near-Excellent Performance
- Noise Levels
- Small Reservoir/Pump Combo
- Clear Plastic Coolant Compartment
- Easy Reservoir Cleaning
- 3x120mm Fans
- Socket Compatibility
- Coolant Included
- Easy Installation

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Black Tubings (For Some)