EKWB – well known for their liquid cooling products have decided to enter the pre-built gaming PC market with the introduction of their “Fluid Gaming PCs”.
Fluid Gaming PCs are based on EK’s “Fluid Gaming” lineup of watercooling products, which are cheaper, aluminum alternatives to copper blocks and radiators. We are not a fan of aluminum based products as it limits you down the road to stick with full aluminum parts or to use a lot of anti-corrosion inhibitors. However for pre-built systems it makes a lot more sense and this is perhaps why EK launched the product line up in the first place.
These pre-builts come in many different configuration options and will be fully customizable. You will be able to choose from a wide variety of CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, PSUs, RAM and SSDs. Currently, there is support for only the newest 2nd Gen Ryzen 2000 series CPUs, MSI motherboards and Nvidia based MSI GPUs, Samsung SSDs, and but EK is planning to expand with more offerings
As far as color options, there are different colors of fitting, different colors of the fluid but currently there is only soft tubing. Sleeve extensions in various colors are offered, but no custom sleeve design yet.
Initially the prices seemed steep – but comparing the default 2700X/1070TI system with a customized OriginPC liquid cooled tower yielded a $600 cheaper total. So EK are definitely being aggressive compared to the competition.
Currently the only case, InWin 101C, is custom painted with EK’s custom design.
Interestingly EK is not building these in Slovenia or China. Instead these are being assembled in the US. The big question is how this will affect EK’s parterships with other companies not only in terms of vendors like Asus who are so far not offered (MSI only), but also the boutique PC vendors who are their customers and now competitors. At the same time there is no reward without risk. EK maybe running into the limits of the liquid cooling market and this may be a good growth path if they don’t burn too many bridges.
Pricing and availability:
EK Fluid Gaming PCs are available to be pre-ordered with EK’s Fluid Gaming shop and first orders will start shipping as early as first week of May, 2018. Pricing starts from 2099.49$ and from there, it will depend on your configuration.
Source: EKWB
