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EKWB are a well-known brand in the enthusiast PC market. Their custom watercooling gear looks amazing and is of top quality – but for a beginner, building a custom loop can be a daunting and confusing process. That is why EKWB have released their Predator 280 all-in-one cooler – it is an easy way to get custom EKWB components in your build at a reasonable cost. It even allows you add in your graphics card to the loop, too, thanks to the use of Quick Disconnect fittings.
Priced at £194.99, you may think this is quite expensive for a simple AIO cooler. However, buying all the EKWB parts separately – the radiator, CPU block, pump, fittings, tubing and coolant – comes out a significantly higher cost. That makes the Predator 280 seem like a comparative bargain. It also has the additional party trick of being able to cool your GPU as well – EKWB supply pre-filled waterblocks separately which you can mount to your graphics card and hook up to the Predator 280 thanks to the Quick Disconnect (QDC) fittings used. We will have a look at all of this in the review, so let's get started.
Specification
- Dimensions: 335 x 142 x 68mm (L x W x H)
- Fan type: EK-Vardar F2-140ER Predator Edition (480-1600rpm)
- Tube length: ~400mm (15.75in)
- Fitting type: EK-ACF Fitting 10/16mm
- QDC type: 10mm barb fitting
- Coolant type: EK-Ekoolant EVO Clear
- Pump type: EK-SPC 60A
- Total liquid capacity: ~320mL
- CPU socket compatibility: – Intel LGA-1150/1151/1155/1156, Intel LGA-2011(-3)
Interesting cooler.
Can it run completely fanless in idle?
In theory I suppose so. However, at a low rpm the fans are really inaudible so it just feels a bit risky – if your CPU utilisation spikes without you knowing, it could overheat with the fans switched off
I’ve oc my 6800k 4GHz, after 3 hours of Gears of War 4, the maximum temperature was 49C. The Silverstone TD02-E was set at 65%, about 1600 rpm.
I like this design a bit more than the Switftech design for a semi open loop but I do wish the end reservoir was mounted in such a way that if you remove the fans, the front face of the radiator (side where the fans are normally mounted) would be flush with the res, I really would like a cooler like (so I can have some kind of loop) this in my Haf XB but given my graphics card is pretty long (it’s a triple fan Strix), this makes using a Switftech cooler or this cooler impossible unless the res with either unit could be remounted out of the way or was designed so that I can mount the radiator on one side, then the fans on the other side of a panel. Yes, I could go with an actual loop, but these semi open loops allow making one far cheaper, for cooling my graphics card, I just need to add 2 fittings, some tubing and a water block, which worst case would be $365 total