THIS is what I am replacing EKWB with in my personal rig!

[@maximilianrockefeller8854]

I discovered modern pc watercooling through Jay (I tried it way back in the day of external aquarium pumps, adapted transmission radiators, etc). I learned about EK through Jay, and built my first open loop system back in October 2019. When I eventually upgrade my system, I'll be using new stuff based on his evolving experience with manufacturers. Thanks, Jay, your channel never fails to be both informative and entertaining (iFixiiiiiiiiiit!!!)

[@r34lj4k3]

Just a heads up, I think you meant custom loop instead of open loop. That term gets thrown around for some reason and I've seen people get hammered for it on other forums.

[@upforellie]

I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, performance PCs is headquartered in my hometown. They’re some of the coolest and nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to.

[@Truex007]

Can you ask them to make a matte black cerakoted reservoir to match their blocks? That'd be sick...

[@joshburgin4379]

@@Truex007 Performance PCs is a distributor, Optimus is the manufacturer of the blocks

[@bigflea11-ig8jr]

I've said "I've said it before" and "I'll say it again" before, and I'll say "I've said it before" and "I'll say it again" again.

[@tracyfox1892]

@@joshburgin4379 Performance PC's offers a cerakoting service. They can customize any color you want your block to be in Cerakoting.

[@TheFIghtin]

Easily one of the best businesses I've ever dealt with for anything

[@vanbilly8387]

Wow. EKWB isn't just going down in flames. It's going down in an atomic explosion.

[@OlettaLiano]

I'm waiting for the sonic boom!

[@Muzick]

EKWB got Oppenheimer'd

[@aaa24637]

nah watch people forget after a week or two

[@RavingNut]

Vaporising

[@DamnZodiak]

This might sound bad but I hope this whole debacle will lead to shops trying to clear their inventory and EKWB being super cheap for a while.

[@Jazzynupe1911]

Can't wait to see this rebuild. Glad to see the support of a US company as well. Excited to see where it goes

[@malphadour]

Nice to see Black Ice rads being shown - they were absolutely top of the tree 20 years ago - I though they had disappeared for a while - but nope - still about producing high quality rads.

[@concinnus]

They're high quality but some are quite restrictive (particularly the thin U-flow rads, like the 480GTS in the vid).

[@malphadour]

@@concinnus Don't forget that a restrictive rad equates to more cooling time in the rad for the water. It's not all about blasting fluid thru there at 1000mph.

[@concinnus]

@@malphadour This is an old myth that I swear I've seen debunked, though I can't find that testing now. The theoretical correction: let's say you cut the width of your flat radiator tubes in half. Resistance doubles, flow velocity actually doubles for the same flow rate, dwell time doubles, and fluid in tubes is cut in half. None of that is helpful, unless the higher flow velocity is enough to cause turbulence. Alternately, switching from XFlow to UFlow: your tube area is cut in half and length doubles. So resistance is 4x, velocity is double, and dwell time is the same. More importantly, the practical correction -- to the consumer all that matters is that some less restrictive radiators perform as well (at low fan speed, Alphacool Nexxos and some XSPC specifically), so clearly the restriction isn't helping. Unfortunately, the only testing I can find of Nemesis XFlow is xtremerigs, and their methodology is garbage (they normalize by delta T, for starters).

[@conorstewart2214]

@@malphadour there are other ways to get more cooling time whilst being less restrictive, like the cross flow ones he is using. More restrictive means the pump needs to work harder.

[@twiliteturtle495]

With a pump like a D5, the honest reality is that the restriction basically doesn't matter. You'll be able to get a decent flow rate through two of the most restricted Hardware Labs radiators you can find, and as many blocks as you can reasonably fit, and still great flow rates at sub 50% pump speeds. I run a GTX360 and a GTS360, plus GPU and CPU blocks, and my D5 is locked to 30% RPM and totally silent.

[@maxoddo3252]

being a CNC machinist from Chicago that ended up loving pc building and your channel, this is so cool to see

[@Carfreak226]

No one is talking about Optimus’s long wait/ship times or their lack of communication…. Optimus is going to have a massive influx of orders now with this spotlight, so time will tell if they correct their course and fix their house.

[@asm2750]

This is pretty much why I went with Watercool out in Germany on my last two builds. They ship pretty quickly and their communication and customer service has been top notch for me.

[@n3Me5i2v2]

Their products are top notch but their customer service department could improve. I hear more bad then good when it comes to lead-times, questions about peoples orders and such. I've had a hit or miss with their customer support.

[@SkeleKng]

I have had issues with terrible lead times on EKWB and Alphacool, honestly its par for the course with Watercooling companies it seems

[@hotaru25189]

if a company has wait/shipping times they shouldnt be sending parts to YT's before the peopel who are rodering the parts imho.

[@RealGreyGhost]

@@hotaru25189 Optimus is not a new company. I've had their waterblocks for about 4 years now. They only issue i've experienced with them is that they tend to make their blocks in batches, and I had to wait 4 weeks for my 3080Ti waterblock (to replace the EK block I had) because they usually start with pre-orders. But once they are able to make enough stock, their shipping times is about as fast as you can get for even ground shipping. When I got their Am4/Am5 waterblock, I got it to my door within 4 days of shipping. They almost now, exclusively use ceramic coating on their water blocks because it tends to have the least issues with regard to material compatibility with mixed metals in the loop and coolants. I've heard complaints about how they handle marketing and social media; which is something I can overlook since the product is so damn good and actually performs 5c cooler compared to EK's blocks in my experience. Also, its a US-based company which is always a plus.

[@AxFactor24]

Had Optimus blocks in on my 3090 and Intel cpu for 2 years now, LOVE THEM! I ordered a block from EK that came damaged due to poor packaging. I had two other negative experiences with them on my build and just gave up as I couldn't see why EK was always being touted. Found Optimus and so glad I did. Block took a long time to get, but they were always very up front and sent emails regularly with updates on batches. When I got it, it was so worth the wait.

[@Teletha]

My 4090 block from EK had a missing standoff (didn't impact performance) and a metal shaving stuck to inlet jetplate. Lucky I had plexi so I could see it and that it wasn't on the other side so it didn't travel passed the gpu...

[@khaos555]

@@Teletha I also had some bad experiences with my first ek 4090 water block tone of the cables that needed to connect to the MOBO was damaged, I lost over $400 for nothing, replaced it with Byski and couldn't be happier, it is not worth spending that much for a water block when you can spend under $200 for one that does a great job or better. The only thing I have from EK is their water coolant and cleaning supply kit as well, never had any issues from that part, most of my other parts are from Thermaltake

[@IronmanV5]

Looks like these guys are going for EKWB's throat with the level of quality and the little touches like the pre cut thermal pads.

[@Simon_Denmark]

Maybe in NA but not EU. The shipping, customs and VAT would be too much. I guess Watercool would be the ”equal” to Optimus here. No false marketing though like saying that: our CPU block gives better cooling than delidding.

[@cakeisalie]

Alphacool was okay too

[@RickyDonker]

Take note, EK... I own in box EK stuff waiting for a build soon and I'm SERIOUSLY considering just selling the shit for this!

[@Mildly_Amused]

Quality! LOL that's funny. Wait until the finish starts coming off. Then Optimus says they don't have any warranty replacements available. That's what happened to me and a few other people.

[@filanfyretracker]

@@Simon_Denmark kinda sucks there is no reverse flow for you guys, that is if I order from Watercool and do not exceed $800 USD I do not pay any import duties and shipping is honestly not horribly worse than inside the US for the standard tier.

[@NickPapandria]

I used those exact radiators in my build. The Cross Flow was SUPER important for a clean look so I could get from one side of the case to the other without a long tubing run. Good choice!

[@supermegarichkid2138]

Now you can change that partially plugged radiator like ya should have when discovering the chunks in the reservoir. lol

[@ottorouth]

requires effort.

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

@@ottorouth As he is tearing everything apart it's not all that much effort to replace the radiators.

[@ottorouth]

@@blahorgaslisk7763 I agree 100%

[@conorstewart2214]

@@blahorgaslisk7763 isn’t he changing the radiators anyway? Isn’t that what he talked about at the beginning of the video?

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

@@conorstewart2214 Don't really know. I don't have time to watch him chew about everything over and over and over again. So I jumpa a fair bit in the video. Now the OP was asking if it wasn't a good idea to change them and I wrote that if he rips everything apart it's not all that much of an effort to swap out the radiators. He will have to redo all the hard tubing anyway when replacing the CPU and GPU blocks and the reservoir and pump. So I can't see much reason not to replace the radiators when he has the chance.

[@dmr778810]

6:35. That actually makes sense to me, because you said it was drain. I want the water "out" so I open the flow, I want to keep the water "in" so the drain is closed.

[@Thirty30150]

Please hurry with this build those blocks are stunning and I'm excited to see it. Also, do the frosted tubing and use blacklights to light them up that would look sick.

[@AMerexican787]

As someone with 3 optimus blocks (modified the 3090 backplate to mount a threadripper block for vram) in my current system, i think you'll enjoy them, and if you get the itch for rgb, the gpu blocks are easy to mount a strip too and the cpu blocks have 3rd party 3d printed pieces that can be added

[@snmdair]

That World of Warships ad still gives me a chuckle after all this time.

[@deenyc1049]

Nothing tops his iFixit ad.

[@trevorchouinard7474]

I came across Optimus shortly after finishing my current system last summer. They will definitely be a part of my next build. Semi local and as a CNC machinist myself, I can really appreciate the efforts they go through.

[@MegaMerijn]

Man seeing all of these EK things go down while I built a fully EK loop a few weeks ago for my new pc. I mean I guess the products are mostly fine it just sucks knowing what was happening.

[@omm306]

As someone who also recently built and all EK system I'm not going to tear it apart but I'm definitely not going to buy from them in the future or recommend them going forward.

[@SubZero_DeZigns]

J is just being himself. A nal

[@TTM1895]

The only real problem I see with EK water blocks is that while you have those parts in your system, if they do go out of business or into bankruptcy, you're never going to be able to get a warranty on your part.

[@CrimsonFrost1]

I'm in the same boat as you, and I just bought more parts to convert my full coverage GPU block/s to using a passive backplate. I am holding out hope that EK improves, there's no reason a company that big should have been doing such shady things as they've been allegedly doing.

[@CrimsonFrost1]

@@TTM1895 it's unlikely they'll go anywhere. As Steve pointed out in his original video, EK is much bigger than just EKWB, meaning they're involved in a lot more than just the water cooling parts.

[@Shinnok789]

And to think I've just made my first watercooled rig last November, and I was so happy I could find some EKWB parts at a discount. Not gonna change them now, money don't grow on trees and all that. But I'll definitely look elsewhere for future builds. Bytski, Alphacool, Aqua Computer etc are all in Europe here, so... For example I got the " D5 NEXT " pump from Aqua Computer, which is an impressive-quality model, very silent even at 4800rpm, included display with a lot of sensor info... sensors that are actually included in the pump. Also the Leakshield lid option for the reservoir is unique - creating negative pressure in the loop to prevent leaks. This pump puts many similar pumps from other devs to shame, EK's included - highly recommended! (not a commercial, just a happy customer). Bytski fittings are another thing I recommend, especially their "alternate" solution to the O-ring coupling system for the rigid tubing. Also they cost half the price of EK or Corsair fittings, for example. What I'm trying to say is: even if EK, one of the biggest players on the water cooling market, goes extinct, there are other options out there, that can easily surpass them in quality and "worth of purchase".

[@jurakerleha]

On my build I have Aquacomputer Aquaero 6XT, it's old but is still one of the best fan controllers on market, using their Splitty and flow sensor Next with Quadro For fittings I'm very happy with Bykski and Barrow for good 6 or 7 years, using their fittings on several builds and no issues, for radiators I went with Hardware Labs and MO-ra3 360mm, but I have used Alphacool radiators, just they're not for me Other brands which I highly recommend is Watercool (Heatkiller), using their reservoir and I personally prefer it

[@thecowtamer]

I love my AlphaCool Nexxxos full copper X flow rads. They have been my go to for all my builds.

[@BleepBlop-rh9lm]

best rads apparently. They use real copper.

[@CwStrife]

Yea alphacool has always been the best. Everytime I wanted to use another rad for something I would go right back to Alphacool at the end.

[@thecowtamer]

@@CwStrife I've used a thermaltake and a slim EK rad when I was doing budget stuff and they worked fine but the AlphaCools are my favorite

[@Xyz-ij6rh]

I like that!! as i German i went with TechN who are in Berlin also Manufacture there and there toleranzes are insane as a mechanical engineer I obv had to measure the Parts and lets just say i had to get the good measurement tools out ... Im allways happy to see something build by the people who design it thats for sure a important ingrediant for the extra premium quality

[@bartman2395]

4090 and 1700 block from them? I dont see that on homepage

[@ethancrosby2573]

I've been really happy with the new alphacool Core series blocks... Pre-cut pads, full coverage, and brass threads...

[@killer01ws6]

I just picked one of those up from PPCS for my FE 4090, looks awesome, I just need to find time to put it on and in my rig.

[@RadioDeadAir]

+1 for Barrow fittings. I started with EKWB but moved to Barrow and I've had zero problems and saved so much money. And +1 For Performance PCs. Great company to order from, and if you ever have a problem or a question or even a return, they're super quick to respond.

[@pootmahgoots8482]

For a niche product like a GPU waterblock to be manufactured in the US for $400 is actually an insanely good deal considering the equivalent from EK cost the same thing which was mass produced in China for pennies, probably. This is cool, Jay. Showing a US company some love is always awesome to see. I think I am going to try and look into getting some watercooling parts from them. I absolutely LOVE the clean, minimalist look of the CPU block. Definitely something that I am attracted to. EDIT: I bet you already saw this but Optimus also makes some really clean looking fittings as well!

[@Alex-zi1nb]

Buddy say what you want about ekwb but if their stuff was made for pennies on the dollar they wouldn't be in their current financial mess. China is the most advanced mass manufacturing market on the planet. It's 2024, it's not longer a place you can joke about making janky parts for cheap. Even if they over work and underpay it's not like it was 20 some years ago

[@thatsl1ve183]

No, it is not insanely good. Watercool does their stuff in germany and a 4090 cooler is 260€. Not even Aquacomputer was as expensive as Optimus in the past even with crazy good tolerances. The Optimus stuff looks good, but i doubt their production capacity (they were often sold out during the first year of 4090)and the price is just insane. Furthermore they claim to be way better than competition, when they are clearly not. It is a good product from what i saw, but the pricing is insane.

[@TheFIghtin]

Your post in completely wrong. All EK GPU blocks are machined in Slovenia. They outsource other parts out to China, like the Surface Radiators and fans, NOT gpu blocks. Also the price of an EK block is about $270, no where near the price of this optimus block. The process for every single one of these companies is the same. They mill blanks to spec. The "mass production" is merely how many people can man a CNC. While you're looking into the Optimus stuff, look into their atrocious lead times, their inability to ceramic coat properly following their inability to nickel plate, their thermal pads leaching oil and being too think to the point of bending PCBs. I'd love to go on about how hit and miss they are, and how they treat their customers like trash. EK screws over their staff, Optimus screws over their customers. Pick your poison.

[@pootmahgoots8482]

@@TheFIghtin From the research I have done since making this post, all of those problems had been happening years ago, and that was because they're super picky on the materials and products that they use. From what I understand, whatever they don't make themselves they source from a US company. Every response I have seen from Optimus's CS has been very detailed, in depth but to the point and they don't cast blame onto anything else but instead they take accountability for their shortcomings and will replace any faulty, defective product that a customer receives. Most of the problems people have been having are from foreign contaminants/metals in radiators and fittings that aren't made by Optimus, which again, they will work with you if you have an issue with your product.

[@BleepBlop-rh9lm]

EK just went greedy

[@nickdarling5557]

EK water blocks are epic.

[@gamebuster800]

No matter the reason, I love other WC companies getting some love. I'll definitely give other brands a try for future builds

[@Null_an_Void]

Been using Barrow watercoooling stuff for years, and I never had an issue with any of their stuff. They're premium fittings for budget prices.

[@Jhenka]

I know you said you don’t plan on mounting it vertical but if you buy a high density thin led strip it fits on the left side of the block in the acrylic gap by the mounting hardware. I have the same block and I have the whole block lit up with an led strip. I can share pictures of the setup if you’re interested!

[@peterparker7738]

I have the 3080 block and I was always bleak it didn't come with RGB. Could you share your solution please?

[@Boofster]

Which led strip did you use? I haven't found one that fits.

[@agonidakis]

Funny because I actually used an EKWB thin high density led strip on my Optimus.

[@Dirigius]

Nice to see Optimus getting some of the spotlight. I have CPU/GPU blocks from them and couldn't be happier with the performance. After EK, I swore off nickel plating for life, so my new blocks are black ceramic and copper. Heatkiller also makes some very finely crafted reservoirs. I have a 200mm glass reservoir that has been in my build for a while. Breaking it down for cleaning and reassembling it is a machinist's pleasure. Everything just fits perfectly.

[@Explosivegamer01]

I love Optimus WBs. I bought one when i couldnt get an EK block for my 13900k. I got mine about a year ago, they were out of stock and a batch was out at nickel plating. I was able to talk with someone and they said they would be back soon and i asked if they come back before the weekend can i get it over-nighted. Sure enough they did get them back got the block to me on Friday. I was stoked when i found out it came with KPx. It does an amazing job on my CPU. I really wish they had a little more variety, i would love a GPU block for my MSI card but they do not have one at this time. Will probably base my builds around what this company has available for blocks.

[@NotThatGuyJD]

Wait, you had a good experience with Optimus and their customer support team responded to you? That's got to be a lie. They're absolutely useless.

[@Mildly_Amused]

@@NotThatGuyJD That's been my experience. Most of the time their customer support never replies. When they do reply, they can't help you.

[@BNLoken]

I have been using Optimus blocks for years and have been very happy with all of them. If you want to add rgb to the 4090 block there is a slot in the block where the i/o ports are and you can add a small rgb strip in there. I did this and it shines the light nicely through the whole block.

[@mariusvoicu683]

I do not know about us, but aquacomputer and heatkiller are very cheap in eu, the most expensive block from aqua is like 170€, silver milled blocks are like 200-300 but those are made out of sterling silver

[@rekareaper]

They have thicker cold plates, thicker fins, and less fin density. I have used alphacool, watercool, EK, bysksi, bitspower and Corsair blocks (probably missing a couple) and even my first gen Optimus block is a couple degrees at minimum ahead of any of the others I have used. With LM on my 3080 Ti pulling around ~570w it kept the core with 6-7c of my liquid temperature and my memory was like 1C warmer than the core. My loop does have much stronger flow rates than most with around 1100LpH.

Never Alphacool for me, the sold me tubes that malformed them selves while in use.

[@mariusvoicu683]

Only thing from alphacool i had issues with thus far is the quick disconnects

[@Don.Lamaack]

I used barrow for my recent fitting replacement needs and have no complaints with them.

[@jurakerleha]

Same here, I have used Barrow and Bykski fittings and their waterblock on several occasions and no issues

[@Lionotus]

Barrow also has that Frosted Titanium colour available. Excellent quality fittings, second only to Bitspower imo 👍

[@MerkDolf]

Oh, no Blue, Green, and Red, SkunkWorks is going to take a %50 hit in performance.

[@Dan-Simms]

Off topic but the last video I just watched was the latest from The Slow Mo Guys and though you were not mentioned this time, Gavin does bring you up a lot, he has said that your channel is one of Gav's favorites. So you guys gotta do a collab of some sort, I bet he would be down to film whatever with you in slow mo.

[@gypsy6211]

Not all rads are equal. Some are designed for lower speed or lower cfm or sp fans, some are designed for higher etc. The BlackIce Nemesis work best with lower speed but good sp/cfm fans like Noctua A series, so are perfect for a quieter pc. The EK's were honestly not much different to aio rads, with a more linear performance ramp, got better with higher performance fans like Vardars run at higher speeds.

[@jurakerleha]

Xtremerigs with Thermalbench had one of the best reviews of watercooling stuff and Hardware Labs I'm using in my build too, although it's SR-2 with Black Ice and MO-ra3 360mm

[@gypsy6211]

@@jurakerleha exactly 👍

[@gscurd75]

These guys really need more publicity. Thank you Jay.

[@NotThatGuyJD]

No they don't. They're a bad company, they make great products but they're worse than EK for consumers

[@Mildly_Amused]

They need more publicity about their awful customer service, never shipping items on time, being 6 months late with items you pre order, their cerakote coatings falling off the block, their gaskets falling apart... I can't wait for Jay's follow up video where he has issues with their products.

[@TheFus]

Hey!! Glad to see Optimus getting some attention!! I got my waterblock for the EVGA 3080Ti from these guys. It took a little while to show up because ... y'know ... Covid n'shit, but I absolutely loved how easy the block install was. Smooth as silk install, loved the look and NO RGB nonsense. Loved doing business with them.

[@kornydad14]

The tapered ends on the rad tanks are not for a smooth transition of flow, they are to promote even flow across the rad and even pressure in each cross tube of the rad. I am an Aerospace engineer that specializes in fluid cooling in electronic devices.

[@lzgrfx08]

Curious if maybe the company told him this? He is promoting their products so I mean for a creator like him I would really doubt he would just say things about the product without knowing

[@Dale-TND]

Wow.. and I just wanted to watch a chill video of some guy building a custom loop (something you don't have)

[@kornydad14]

@@Dale-TND not ripping Jay, he does a great job, just clarifying. Jay likes facts and detail.

[@dantecoal7584]

I've never been a loyalist to the "made in USA" stuff, since I'm in construction and know the VERY questionable quality of USA made stuff across the board.... But this? This looks fuckin' KILLER. I already had an EKWB pump, GPU block, and CPU block that don't make financial sense to replace atm, but holy hell, I've already bookmarked Optimus for my future builds whenever AM6 or w/e happens. Hopefully a GOOD pump manufacturer will surface soon, or maybe a built-in for my Y70 Touch will happen on a distro block. Side note; I've been using Barrow parts for a while, and they're SO much better than what you'd expect for the price. Currently running Barrow for my dual 360 rads, 90s, and straight fittings.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

to be fair, it says "made in USA", not "made well".

[@flexiblefelix]

"How many thermal pads did they give you for the GPU?" "Yes."

[@Nareimooncatt]

Only 1, but it's really f'ing big!

[@crisnmaryfam7344]

@@Nareimooncatt That was just the backplate my guy. They gave him PRECUT pads for every spot needed. Made a big deal out of it actually...

[@Leme994]

Hey jay, i haven't really been watching you, but I'm very excited to see the build. On a side note, i think people end up learning about the hardware analysis side of things over time, but the fact that you also do these builds brings us back because it is something we always want to see more of. Love from a brazilian PC enthusiast that was born through your content ❤

[@Leiesoldat]

Yes Optimus! I love their AMD Foundation block.

[@Admiral_Nimtz]

Did Barrow's fittings and distro in my Y70 touch. Very happy with both and saved a few bucks to put toward other components.

[@nikko4693]

the bot comments are crazy 😭

[@Eclipce051]

because they are china😅

[@Jagjagula]

Chy-nah

[@cyclechris6591]

@@JagjagulaGood one! The boss was right, again.😎

[@KGB5026]

Re reading through them is crazy after reading yours, fucking chy nah

[@cp37373]

Go away bot

[@strahayeagar5201]

I've had Optimus blocks, fittings and reservoirs in my system for years now and they are absolutely top notch in both form and function. The GPU block does have a hidden channel to mount RGB between the plexi and the GPU case bracket.

[@JAH12PRO]

Lmao I can’t wait for that Optimus block to fail in terms of the coating that’s going to be fun to see. I remember someone on Reddit getting in contact with them asking for a new one they told that person since the block was discontinued they couldn’t replace it. And for him to send it back in to recoat the block. That’s just crazy a 400$ block that fails and then you have to clean your loop because the coating failed. I’m sticking with Ekwb hopefully they they their stuff together.

[@matt2817]

Those blocks are beautiful, very sleek and classy like a good suit. Can't wait to see a follow-up video on their performance, ease of install, maintenance, etc.

[@derekg2132]

Optimus is amazing just way too damn expensive

[@d3lsl0w]

Hopefully if they start selling more parts, economy of scale will bring down their prices a bit.

[@TheCrypt1c]

thats the cost of not made in china :P

[@B0BBYGAMER]

@@d3lsl0w Ha, I doubt it took forever to get my 4090 block they were quite overwelmed.

[@vegeta6555]

Their stuff is always on back order.

[@Rspsand07]

@@TheCrypt1c Why would I care or pay for that, though? And your CPU and GPU that you're cooling are, case, psu, the entire PC so weird line

[@pauljoseph3081]

China could never produce such a thorough product as this 👑

[@Games_and_Tech]

Knowing Jay, in 2 weeks will be using all stuff from EK again 😂😂😂

[@ixtlor5054]

I’m doing a black and copper build. I bought the Optimus version 2 block for my Strix OC 4090 in black. I disassembled the block, sandblasted the internal water channels and Cerakoted it in Copper Suede, an H series, heat cured coating. It looks so sweet I want to share it with everyone.

[@DoublePlus-Ungood]

No issues with the rings after sandblast? You are removing material as you know even tiny amount. I'm guessing everything is screwed down tight enough to compensate. Sounds cool, great idea. btw did you use actual sand or soda or beads or whatever...cat eye sleep crust..

[@AKGWolf]

really sucks cause ek had good stuff

[@malphadour]

Not so much in recent times. Lots of reports of quality issues (compared to where they were 5 years ago) and their prices have been fairly comical for a while. The top end EK water blocks were easily matched by brands like Heatkiller and Alphacool for significantly less than half the price.

[@AKGWolf]

@@malphadour but generally ek used to be the name for watercooling

[@malphadour]

@@AKGWolf Absolutely - I used a ton of Supremacy's on builds when it was the best thing out there - slowly switched to Heatkiller IV's as EK's prices started to creep up and up. And Up. The problem is that they have relied on the name and reputation for the last 4 or 5 years and kept on creeping the prices up whilst the quality went backwards. EK Quantum Velocity now typically close to £200 in UK, Heatkiller IV around £100 and works better. And for me that is a problem.

[@DigitalJedi]

I love working with their cross-flow rads. There's a 280mm on the way to do a liquid cooling conversion on my new mATX setup. Used to run a 360 in a full ATX build with the water flowing down through the radiator. Made draining the loop really easy not having to flip it around to drain the rad.

[@cheeseblast]

Appreciate your dedication to homemade products and shows a lot of integrity swapping ek parts out like that. Appreciate you man

[@nosliwec]

I built a SFF water cooled PC in the NR200P. I ended up using XSPC 240mm Ultrathin Radiators; one of which had to be crossflow for the tubing to work. The XSPC crossflows has 4 ports so you have to plug the two ports you don't use and you have to use the ports diagonally across from each other. It made the experience so nice.

[@SakaCheech]

That is stunning and beautiful workmanship! OptimusPC is going to be in my radar - especially a US based company - hell to the Yeah! Thanks Jay for sharing!

[@neilguthrie3248]

Really like the look of those Optimus blocks and looking forward to seeing them in your updated build.

[@snackpack1739]

Can’t wait to see the build!! I’ll have to check out the blocks when I look to changed out some parts later this year

[@DanDoesGame]

EK is just going through the same thing Nike went through with the sweatshop stuff in the 90's

[@fuzzydrake2716]

PPCs has been a huge help for me over the past few years, always happy to see you plug them because your channel brought me to them. Also those new blocks look AWESOME. I would love to put them in my rig and go to a blacked out theme again if I had the money for it.

[@teknologyguy5638]

Thanks for doing this, almost went with Optimus on my last build a year ago and glad I now have somewhere to go after the EK fallout.

[@ronnie8274]

Jay, I have never water cooled and I was about to use EK and I'm glad I didn't. Those Optimus blocks look awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they perform in the system. I have supported other sponsors of yours, but this one really has me excited. Thanks for showing us these blocks, and as always, thank you and your team for everything that you do. Ronnie.

[@stephenjackson6042]

So cool! And glad to see more positive coverage for Barrow and the likes (all my fittings and pump are from barrow, pump has been in use for 3+ years and I got that for £40-50ish, it is a DDC with RGB, whisper quiet too). Watercooling can be so expensive when just going with the more well known brands despite there being so many good competitors. These blocks look nice for that more clean aesthetic but my gosh that price haha, then again similar with EK. My 7900xtx red devil is waterblocked with the Alphacool core block which is pretty much as heavy as that bad boooii x) but got it for around £160 with a blackfriday promotion! So good! I recommend everyone really look into all the brands, can save so much! I look forward to the build with those parts though! Yay for more watercooling content! Keep it up, Jay and co!

[@JourneywithBrandon]

I'm thinking I'll have to convert my water-cooled setup to air-cooled once I get a new GPU, which would be a 4080. There's no 4080 block available from these guys. If there was, it'd be $400. It's less expensive to just buy the best Noctua cooler for my CPU at this point. Watercooling has been fun, but I think I'm done with it.

[@jurakerleha]

Alphacool or Bykski or Barrow are good brands for waterblocks, I have used them for a few builds and I'm using Bykski waterblock on my GPUs If I didn't have 3 GPU setup then I would go as well with air cooled GPU and CPU, Thermalright CPU coolers are one of the best now, they outperforming Noctua, I used in past Raijintek Morpheus on RTX 2080Ti, it's massive air cooler for GPU but outperformed every air cooler on market, just search for Raijintek Morpheus and you will see what I meant is massive, good luck with your build

[@bryce2113]

I’ve been running Optimus blocks on my 5900x and 3080 ftw3 for 3+ years and they’re great. Cooling performance is beyond solid and their aesthetics are epic. Been using EK mystic fog premix the entire and no clogging or breakdown issue. 3080 with a strong OC tops out at 43c which ends up being about 2-3c over the coolant in temp. Their customer service and warranty are amazing. My cpu block acrylic cracked twice and they replaced it both times no questions asked. I had something similar happen to my EKWB distro plate and it was a nightmare to replace. Also, I’ve been using only Barrow fittings for 4ish years on 4 or 5 different systems and they’ve been solid. I have Black Ice Nemesis rads (45 and 60mm) in my main gaming PC and I have no complaints.

[@murixbob]

Glad to see you finally check out Optimus. They have amazing designs. I happen to have a CPU block, fittings, and a pump/res combo from them. The pump res combo even using a a machine chunk of metal to house the pump that acts as a heatsink for it. I really hope they eventually move to making rads in the future.

[@OsirisDGCalgary]

I bought barrow fittings for my custom loop in January and couldn't be happier. Amazing aesthetic and equally good performance. Wish I could say more about their other offerings, but if they hold their products to the same standard, its an excellent product!

[@brendangraham8668]

I love the quality and presentation on the CPU and GPU blocks. Happy to see its made in the USA. Well worth the price imo.

[@mrctuned2844]

The different types of flow through a heat exchanger you are referring to is a single pass, dual pass, or even triple pass. Single pass is in one side, out the opposite. Dual pass is inlet/outlet are on the same side, and a triple pass looks like a single but the core is divided into 3 sections. The more passes, the more heat is exchanged, at the cost of some head pressure at the inlet.

[@kylejohnson6788]

This is for Jay. I used Optimus when I was doing am4. They do specify that their channels are so fine that you should not be using any fluid that has things suspended in it as it will clog the fins. So no opaque fluids.

[@kylejohnson6788]

Almost forgot I also found that over time if I used a colored fluid that has the colorant fell out of the fluid it would clog the fence on the CPU block. However having said that it was an excellent product and greatly reduced the temperature of my CPU over what I was using previously.

[@mikebarrington8828]

We call that TBOE in UK (Top,Bottom, Opposite Ends) was very common on large central heating systems with lower pressure allowing the heat to assist with the movement of water through the heating system

[@TheMerce101]

I used those barrow fittings on my first watercooling loop. Worked perfectly but were a pain to screw in/out and ended up causing mild arthritis in my hands to flare up which I didn't even know I had. They also scratch, showing the brass under the black SO easily. Since swapped to Phanteks fittings.

[@camerongreen9328]

I am SO STOKED YOU are FInally not using EK, Nemsis and optium build is something I dreamed to build

[@normanblakely2418]

Jay, I purchased an Optimus 4090 block instead of the abp ek block because of everything you outlined here. Good choice. I am loving the performance of this thing. Be careful. The back thermal pad has trouble laying flat on the pcb. Mine caused temporary bending of the pcb. Once the thermal pad heats up it straightens out and the screws needed to be retightened. Good luck

[@Miniputt_999]

Looking forward to the finished build. All of that just looks awesome.

[@Beroguard]

That's cool you are finally getting a chance to check out Optimus water blocks. I found out about them last year when trying to do some research for what other cpu blocks were out there. I ended up ordering one of their amd blocks for my AM5 build. Though took awhile for them to fulfill my order. I order the block in February, 2023 and got it in May, 2023.

[@MylosPlaysGames]

Those parts all look so beautiful, I'm looking forward to seeing this all installed into Skunkworks!

[@tknw]

Been running Barrow fittings, HWLabs black ice slim rads, Heatkiller blocks & glass res with alphacool glass tubes for 5 years now and I just LOVE those parts :)

[@lostphotographs3936]

Thankfully they do not have any pump-res combo's for sale. I picked up 2 of them and wanted to upgrade to 12' res tubes. They had a pair I had to reach out directly to purchase. I was told "good luck, they tend to leak" directly from customer service. And they do. I ended up using a strip of Teflon tape around the pump side threads to get a good seal. YMMV.

[@GhostSenshi]

Thank you for recommending a one stop shop. I’ve been building since the 90’s and since this hobby has become mainstream thanks to streamers, it’s been difficult to have a reliable and great store front to buy from.

[@tomshepherd6375]

I use black ice rads in my builds and i use Optimus blocks as well in my old and new build im working on. went with two 420 gtx rads for new build. you will love the blocks i had only takin my cpu block apart once and really didnt need to after 2 years running dye and distilled water. temps are great as well btw.

[@Slime16x]

EK goes out of business and we lose the best looking water blocks, no point of watercooling if the loop isn’t EK. Dying on this hill

[@prototypep4]

I'll stand with you. 40% of why I watercool is aesthetics, another 40% is silence and 20% for performance. I want a whisper quiet, gorgeous build that also overclocks a bit better than air and I'm happy. EK makes singlely the best looking stuff in the game. And matrix 7 makes everything so clean and easy to work out.

[@HEBEJEBE]

Barrow is surprisingly legit. Between all of my rigs, I probably have 60+ of their fittings of all types, including 90 degree swivels and quick disconnects. The only inconsisancy I've seen with them is that some of the swivels swivel a little easier than others. I've entrusted them to my Dominus Extreme/3175x build and not one of them has leaked. They even have nice threads that don't cut you when you tighten them down. Not sponsered. I just needed a lot of fittings and coudn't swallow EK's prices, even before the fallout.

[@morgan40654]

7:30 SPAAACE!!!!

[@BerzerkaDurk]

I'm _very_ happy that I jumped ship from EKWB for my latest build and went with Optimus waterblocks and watercool rads and pump.

[@BerzerkaDurk]

Can confirm they are veeeerryy heavy. They didn't skip on the copper.

[@WylieWiggins]

I had a hard time with valves and eventually went with the Thermaltake tt Pacific Drain Valve. I sent back two Primo slides and one low budget twist type before finding the tt that sealed properly. Nice, those channels inside the CPU block look EDM milled and the o-rings are not just glued together.

[@RealGreyGhost]

Im so glad you finally got some Optimus blocks. Been using them since having my 9900k and 2080Ti, and went with them again for my 7800X3D and 3080Ti. I love them. Although mine are just the normal nickel coloring as they didnt offer the ceramic coating until later.

[@PhilipsonoftheKing]

USA! USA! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Really glad you’re giving these guys a shot. Love their design language and attention to detail and quality. Also, I don’t think you need more RGB in your build Jay. It’s called “Skunk Works”. These blocks look like they came from the SR-71 or the DarkStar from Top Gun 2. The matte all-black look will be sick!! Embrace it! lol 😆

[@dogatemybbq9180]

Man Jay I have so much Respect for you not just as a content creator, but as a person.

[@georgegn6534]

4:12 that design idea is massive

[@erin.anderson]

Heard the prices and just sort of nodded, because they sounded pretty much right from when I priced out a custom loop for my current build (and proceeded to opt for AIO CPU, air cooled GPU, because it literally doubled the price of my rebuild). The fact that they're hitting the same price point as the other Chinese manufactured components with in house machining tells me more that companies like EK have ALWAYS been overcharging you for their stuff. Good on Optimus - they look like they've got some excellent quality components, and I hope they swoop in and pick up every customer that EK used to have, and more.

[@Nimsc]

Great choice of rad! I use a GTS nemesis 280 x-flow with push/pull fans pulling cool air in to cool a 3080 and 5800x3d in an itx build and it does a brilliant job.

[@rhkips]

As a former machinist, these chunks of metal make me VERY happy.

[@TheScorpio32]

I used barrow on my old build somewhere in 2018. Just because they were much cheaper than bitspower, they worked really well. At the time no one knew anything about them and warned me about buying water-cooling parts off AliExpress. But they were solid

[@DDugger]

I went with Optimus and Barrow fittings for my new build a few months ago. They are great so far. Be aware that a number of people have reported issues with the Black Ice radiators in particular not playing nicely with optimus' plating for some reason. I actually returned a Black Ice I was going to use after reading so many posts... unfortunately, the rad I settled on was an EK Quantum Surface. But it fits my case perfectly and works really well, and Im not pulling it out unless something happens! lol

[@dmedwardsiii]

I really appreciate this video on a level that some won't. whenever I buy things I try to buy the best quality things that I can find, priorizing on stuff made here in the US. thanks for opening my eyes on a US manufacturer that is high quality.

[@robmasters3569]

it's about time people started paying more attention to Optimus. I was thrilled to see them start popping up in Stuart's builds from GGF and now others too but I was frustrated for a long time not seeing Optimus being used when their products give such amazing results and look incredible. They are way better than EK

[@michaeldejesus7576]

WOW!!!! Nice to see an American Co making really quality stuff again!!!!!!!! Makes me want to look into water cooling for the first time in my life and I'm 50 years old now.

[@Milesofgaming]

I've not paid huge attention to the PC parts space in a while, but this is seriously one of the nicest water cooling components I've seen in memory.