Edit – EK have now made an official statement on the issue:

“The first batch of XE radiators had slightly shorter distance between top chamber and enclosure this way allowing the top screw to touch and scratch the inner top chamber. This is the case ONLY on XE 480 model and does not affect the smaller versions (120, 240 and 360). We have opened up and pressure tested all current stock of XE radiators (all of 480 models and samples from other sizes) and have found out that there is no risk of leakage due to this indentation. The screws do scratch the surface and sometimes dent the chamber, but they do not puncture it. Therefore XE radiators are fully functional and OK to use.

 EK Water Blocks is ready to process any RMA request or exchange of product without any limitations if the customer decides to do so with proof of purchase dated prior to 30th of October 2015.

All XE deliveries from EK Water Blocks to official resellers and end customers from this point on are clear of this risk as we have eliminated such scratched units from our inventory.”

So EK have confirmed that dents will not turn into leaks – so if you have dents then feel free to carry on with your life.  I am confused about the statement that only the 480 radiator is affected given that we’ve seen dents on other sizes.  Still there is an option to RMA if you’re at all concerned.  Hopefully this is the last we see of the issue because the XE is a great performing radiator!

Original Post

While we don’t want to prematurely call this out as EK’s fault – there does seem to be some real issues with the new EK XE radiator that won a Gold award and the all-round best performance category in our 28 way 360 roundup.  The issue started with one OCN’er finding a leak in his brand new XE radiator that was fresh out of the box.  Upon investigating it seemed that there were indents into the sealed end caps from the screws that secure the outer frame of the radiator together.  These screws should not be touching the inner end cap at all.  XE360 Tank Issue-3

More OCN users started to check their radiators and most of those that did seemed to have matching indents even if they weren’t yet leaking.  There is currently no explanation as to what is going on.  The damage does not appear to be from the screws being screwed in too far, instead it’s almost as if the end tank is blowing up due to excess presure into the screws.  It is unclear if the radiators are suffering from this in manufacturing or if there is something else going on later that causes it.  Certainly fast_fate did not remember seeing it when taking apart his sample.  However as the photos below show – the problem is definitely now there across multiple units. XE360 Tank Issue-4This is somewhat embarrassing for EK especially as it comes only a few weeks after their “quiet” recall on the 140mm Vardar fans for being too noisy.  To be clear we have not seen this on EK’s other radiators – we made sure to check- only the XE seems to be affected:

XE360 Tank Issue-6

For now we’d advise staying away from the XE until we hear from EK what the problem might be.  In the meantime though HWLab’s SR2 MP is a very good alternative that placed only a fraction behind the XE in our roundup!XE360 Tank Issue-5

 

 

 

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14 COMMENTS

  1. I have two 480 XE in my CaseLabs TH10A! I did air leak test both of them, and a hi flow aquarium pump flush for over two hours as well. I have not seen any leaks and they have been in the build for over a month and a half now without any issues. Do you think I should pull them anyways to check?

    • Tough to say. If you haven’t seen any leaks after all of that then they most likely aren’t leaking (though really small leaks can be hard to spot). Even if you pull them and they look ok though there’s always that worry that maybe they won’t be ok next month. I think a lot depends on rad positioning in the case. With a TH10A the top mount radiators might leak on to the motherboard or PSU causing hardware to die. So those I guess might be worth a check. The ones at the bottom of the case are less of a concern I’d say.

  2. Wonderful news! I have 3 – 360s XE for a new build that is close to completion. I guess holding off until EK says or does something is the best thing to do.

    • Yeah you could open them up and see if they have the issue, but as we don’t know if it develops over time it still seems risky.

  3. Gah, just installed 2 of the 480 models in my new build. -_-

    Curious, where on OCN are other users reporting this problem?

  4. HWLabs would be a great alternative except that you just can’t get any of their new products in Europe at all. All the vendors I’ve looked at seem to either only carry previous gen products (e.g. SR-1 etc). And those that have the newer GTS and GTX models seem to be in the process of running down their stock in order to discontinue reselling HWLabs products.

    What is going on with HWLabs in Europe?

  5. I just bought the EK XE 360 rad for my loop, and thanks to this warning i wasted now time taking the shroud of my out of the box radiator, and surprise surprise it already had revealed copper indent where the screws would be.

    I found a fix thats very easy to do, just unscrew the screws at the other end where it says Coolstream, and put on 1-2 thin washers and screw it back together and you are abit more saved against the endtank expanding.

    My fix is here on Overclock.net:
    http://www.overclock.net/t/1573271/ek-coolstream-xe-360-endtank-fix

  6. I just bought the EK XE 360 rad for my loop, and thanks to this warning i wasted no time taking the shroud of my new out of the box radiator, and surprise surprise it already had revealed copper indents where the screws would be.

    I found a fix thats very easy to do, just unscrew the screws at the other end where it says Coolstream, and put on 1-2 thin washers on the screws and screw it back together and you are abit more saved against the endtank expanding and possibly leaking.

    My fix is here on Overclock.net:
    http://www.overclock.net/t/1573271/ek-coolstream-xe-360-endtank-fix

  7. I just bought the EK XE 360 rad for my loop, and thanks to this warning i wasted no time taking the shroud of my out of the box radiator, and surprise surprise it already had revealed copper indent where the screws would be.

    I found a fix thats very easy to do, just unscrew the screws at the other end where it says Coolstream, and put on 1-2 thin washers and screw it back together and you are abit more saved against the endtank expanding.

    My fix is here on Overclock.net:
    http://www.overclock.net/t/1573271/ek-coolstream-xe-360-endtank-fix

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