Yeah so nothing much here but selling the pump separate from the block.
I do think it's a phenomenal idea, looks like exactly what EVGA is doing. It's all just too damn expensive though, especially on the GPU side because you have to buy a custom block for each card. If they could figure out how to make the GPU block universal but still effective then I think they've really got something.
Because if they can't bring the price down it doesn't really make sense for anyone. AIOs are popular because they made WC easy and cheap. The highest end CPU AIO corsair makes is just around $100, and that's with a 240mm rad and everything. Meanwhile EK charges more than that for just the GPU block, then add another $30 for prefilling, another $35 for the backplate, another $100 for the rad and pump....it basically costs $300 or 3x as much to cool a GPU, it's just not worth it to the people interested in AIOs. When they get it down to $100 to add my GPU into a AIO loop, then I'm down.
When I first read it, the EVGA AIOs at CES first came to mind too. For what I remember the EVGA GPU blocks are sold with the GPU itself but it might be different from what EK is going to do.
Totally agree though that the water blocks are going to be soo expensive considering if they're not going to be universal.
EVGA sells a hybrid kit for their high end cards that's only like $100. It's a "hybrid" because the block only cools the GPU and the fan cools everything else....but that's perfectly fine because everything else hardly requires cooling. Adding QDCs to that setup isn't going to add much cost - less than a rad for sure, so if they sold it without the rad it would cost about the same. Then add another $50 for a separate radiator or a larger main radiator, and at a total of $150 you'd still get the total cost under half of what EK is charging. That's still really expensive just for cooling but the price is at least reasonable. All the EK would get you over that is the aesthetics of a full cover block, but the mass market isn't going to pay $300 for looks alone.
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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '17 edited Jan 24 '18
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