Introduction - EK Supreme LT - EK Supreme Classic Copper Mod - EK Supreme HF - EK Supreme Full Nickel - Swiftech Apogee XT
Koolance CPU-360 - WaterCool HeatKiller 3.0 Nickel - Test Results - Conclusions
2010 CPU Water Blocks Round Up
By Daz May 11, 2010
EK Supreme HF - Acetal
With great deal of anticipation we moved to the latest and greatest model in EK Supreme Family – EK Supreme HF.
From the outside HF demonstrates similar shapes to its predecessor, but only with black hold down plate. Bottom of the block is traditionally polished with high precision like a mirror, which you can enjoy till your first few mounts (unless it is nickel or chrome plated).
When block is taken apart and compared with previous generation model, at first sight they look identical and only closer inspection reveal the differences.
Try to spot them yourself on next three photos , before scrolling down for close ups. Supreme HF is on the left on each photo.
The Supreme HF top and bottom machine work is much rougher then of the original Supreme. This is unfortunate, but it unlikely makes any difference in performance. As you can see EK engineers tweaked Supreme's design to let coolant flows easier to make block less restrictive.
By default the “stock” medium-restriction impingement plate (shown above) was factory installed in our sample.
Right after installation it became apparent that “HF” moniker was not an EK marketing spin by any means. Coolant in our little 100ml reservoir literally boiled and after one minute coolant turned into sea of micro-bubbles. It was an impressive start, but we had to be patient and bleed the system properly.
After series of runs with stock plate, we switched to more restrictive plate #1 to get maximum from the block. The flow rate slighly dropped, but stayed significantly better then of the old generation models.
Improved flow pays off with respectable 3.5c degree drop for performance and 2c degree drop for silence system set up in comparison with old generation Supremes. The margin is more likely will be wider for water cooling builds with multiple blocks in the same loop.
It seems that block orientation with horizontal inlet-outlet mount yielded slightly better results with half of degree advantage. Having said that, it could be a result of slightly more successful block’s mounts, then something else.
Switching to higher restrictive plate gave us advantage of extra 2c degreees for performance set up. This means that while a massive flow increase has been sucessfully achived, the temperature gain was just a degree and half in stock configuration towards the older models.
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