EK CoolStream CE 420 Radiator Review

EK CoolStream CE 420 Radiator Review

Welcome to another Extreme Rigs radiator review. This time we’ll be taking a close look at the CE 420 from EKWB which was released about a month ago.

Before getting into the review we would once more like to welcome Noctua as a sponsor partner to Extreme Rigs and extend our Thanks for sending the NF-A14 IndustrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM fans for use in the thermal test chamber. Their support really got us out of an awkward situation we found ourselves in after the 140mm fans we were using started to fail after 6 weeks of continuous use. It was difficult to throw all that data away, but we felt it best to start over with “best in class” fans than continue running fans which proved to be less than reliable.

With new fans in hand, we restarted our 140.x radiator thermal testing from scratch, and after crunching the data we have begun publishing our 140.x radiator reviews. First up was SR2 420 MP from HWLabs.

This time we have the CoolStream CE 420 from EK and it is the first of the recently released 140.x sized radiators from EK that we have run through it’s paces. Most of the data comparisons will be against the SR2 420 MP but we’ll also put in some data of other EK radiators which you might already be familiar with which might add some more performance perspective to the CE 420.

Firstly a big thanks to EKWB for providing the review sample of the CE 420.
The support offered by EK has been exemplary over the past 18 months since our radiator testing commenced and it really is greatly appreciated. Thanks Guys!

What’s in the Box?

The CE 420 sample arrived in full retail packaging featuring EK’s lime green color code used for their radiators and fans.

The graphics are plain and simple, but I do like the band of radiator fins

On the back, some key points and technical details are listed.

Our feelings about this “Ready for use” key point are well known to regular readers by now. Suffice it to say that end users should always flush new radiators prior to installing into their system.

Removing the outer sleeve we find a sturdy shipping box.

The radiator has a bubble wrap sleeve which offers some addition protection during shipping.

The accessories are in a piece of taped up cardboard tucked safely at one end of the box. This prevents the accessories becoming loose during transport and helps keep the fragile core from sustaining any damage. Simple yet effective.

Extent of delivery as listed by EK:

Enclosed:
– EK-CoolStream CE series radiator /w two pre-installed G1/4 extenders
– Flat-head UNC 6-32 screws (l=30mm)
– Flat-head UNC 6-32 screws (l=5mm)
– Allen key 2,5mm
– Allen key 9mm

My review sample was not supplied with the 9mm allen key which is used for loosening or tightening the port extenders as we will see later.

The following caution note is from the EK website, but was not found anywhere on or in the package in which the review sample arrived.
So we have been warned, choose screw lengths carefully, particularly is using a mounting bracket or vibration reducing gaskets and remember to make compensation for the amount of compression when tightening down with gaskets installed.

Onwards to technical specifications!