Introduction

EK Water Blocks, or simply EKWB or EK, is arguably the most well-known of several companies dedicated to the PC DIY watercooling market. It has been around for over 15 years and saw the rise and fall of many other brands along the way while diversifying into other market segments, including the professional server space, pre-built systems, and even B2B work with co-branded motherboards and GPUs in addition to other partners outside the PC space entirely—think cooling for self-driving cars, for example. I've seen the team at EK change a lot over the years too, with many projects not coming to fruition and more that are coming up even a pleasant surprise to yours truly. The company's design language has also been evolving continuously since I started reviewing DIY watercooling components, yet one thing was missing until today as there have not been any EK radiator reviews on TechPowerUp! Surely, it is time to rectify this?


EK's previous radiator line was called EK-Coolstream and came in the SE, PE, and XE series for slim, performance, and Xtreme. I had covered all three in their largest sizes elsewhere and was the only one to test EK's short-lived venture into the 180 mm fans and radiator segment, too. The 140 mm fan sizes had a separate Coolstream CE line, but that's beyond the scope of this article. The Coolstream XE was the most impressive of the five in providing excellent thermal performance from medium-high airflow and very good scaling for those who wanted as much cooling as possible at the expense of noise. It was especially handy in a case with a single radiator slot, and I was thus curious to see what the updated version—the EK-Quantum Surface X360M—offers in 2022. I have multiple EK radiator reviews coming up, including the thinner EK-Quantum Surface S360 being covered alongside, and let's also thank EKWB for providing a review sample of the EK-Quantum Surface X360M to TechPowerUp!

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

A lot may have changed since the previous generation of EK radiators were announced, but the packaging design still reminds me of the older products as both use an outer sleeve over an inner white cardboard box. It's the sleeve that has gone from a green and white color scheme to this black with orange accents befitting the EK brand more. Note the vertical orientation of the product box, which makes it stand out more from the crowd when taking photos. On the front is the company logo and product name, with "EK-Quantum Surface" larger than the actual product to make sure product branding is first and foremost. A large render of the radiator helps visualize the product inside, and a feature list, tech details, and company contact information are on the back in a few different languages. Side flaps keep the inner box concealed during transit, which is bereft of anything noteworthy aside from the second set of side flaps keeping it closed.


Opening the box, we see the radiator safely packed inside bubble wrap, and the various accessories are placed inside a separate cardboard box on the side to prevent any damage to the radiator from the mounting hardware accidentally hitting it during transit. I also appreciate the box being labeled as much, and it's shaped to leave no free space for the accessory box and radiator to move around inside. In the smaller box, a plastic zip lock bag contains a set of twelve 5 mm and 30 mm long screws for fans to be installed in either push or pull, and in either intake or exhaust in conjunction with the case or radiator mount. These come with Phillips screw heads as opposed to the button head screws which came with the EK-Quantum Surface S360, and we thus don't get the smaller Allen key since EK assumes everyone has a Phillips head screwdriver. These are also M4-threaded, which is a good thing with thicker radiators as it is more durable than M3 or UNC 6-32 and readily available if replacements or longer screws are needed for thicker fans, such as the excellent Phanteks T30-120. Instead, 6 mm and 9 mm L-shaped Allen keys are included, and we will see on the next page where these fit in—literally.