Water cooling expert EK announced its entrance into the boutique PC market with its new Fluid Gaming pre-built systems, which feature AMD Ryzen 2000-series processors and Nvidia GTX 1000-series graphics cards. All systems also employ EK Fluid Gaming water cooling.
EK launched its Fluid Gaming line of water cooling parts in mid-2017. Created as a lower-cost alternative to EK’s traditional offerings, the Fluid Gaming line consists entirely of aluminum components. Because mixing aluminum and copper parts in a water loop can lead to corrosion, Fluid Gaming parts are only compatible with each other. However, the overall system does prove to be both effective and cheap.
The Fluid Gaming water cooling system has now been taken to the next level with the new Fluid Gaming… gaming systems. EK launched a line of pre-built systems, which are also customizable, that come by default with Fluid Gaming-based water cooling for the processor and graphics cards. The idea is that buyers don’t have to choose their cooling solution; they only choose their hardware options. The price of the water cooling components associated with each hardware option is reflected in its price. All hardware configurations use two radiators (240mm + 120mm) and one pump in the water loop, but the number of water blocks depends on the graphics card configuration. The only things buyers can customize on the cooling system are the color of the compression fittings and the coolant.
Let’s take a look at the hardware EK has on offer. Housing all Fluid Gaming systems is a custom-painted In Win 101C that has the system’s serial number laser-etched on the glass side-panel. As mentioned earlier, EK’s systems are exclusively powered by AMD processors and Nvidia graphics. For the first, buyers can choose between the Ryzen 5 2600 and the Ryzen 7 2700X. These are paired with motherboard options that include MSI ATX B350 and X470 boards. On the graphics front, things start at a single GTX 1060 and end at dual GTX 1080s. EK opts for EVGA Supernova PSUs, G.Skill Trident Z RGB memory, Samsung 960 EVO M.2 SSDs, and Seagate Barracuda HDDs.
Earlier in the year, when graphics card prices were higher, we discovered that the premium traditionally paid for boutique systems could actually be offset by the inflation of graphics card prices. However, graphics card prices have recently begun to settle down, and some quick shopping shows that inflation can’t quite compensate for the EK Fluid Gaming systems’ high starting price. Buyers will undoubtedly be paying some premium for EK quality and that custom-painted case.
EK Fluid Gaming systems are available for pre-order now on EK’s website. They are only available in the U.S. and will begin shipping early May. Prices start at $2100 for the lowest-end configuration, which includes the Ryzen 5 2600 and a GTX 1060.
