EK Waterblock Concedes to Increases, Current Prices Are No Longer Sustainable

EK Waterblocks has updated its official price list with new prices that came into effect on April 9. Naturally, some prices have been revised upwards, and the reason, as explained on Instagram, is the increase in costs related to raw materials and energy.

The company stated that it has kept prices unchanged for as long as possible but is now forced to adapt to a more burdensome production scenario, in line with what has already occurred in the custom liquid cooling sector.

The update is not uniform and shows very different variations among the various products. The radiator EK-Quantum Surface P360M has increased from €133.18 to €147.33, reflecting a 10.6% increase. The waterblock EK-Quantum Vector³ TUF RTX 5090 Plexi has risen from €289.90 to €304.94, marking a +5.2%. Even more pronounced is the increase for the EK-Loop Leak Tester Flex, which goes from €32.90 to €45.65, a rise of approximately 38.8%.

However, there are also more contained increases: the AIO system EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux D-RGB registers a change from €179.99 to €183.01, equivalent to a +1.7%. Conversely, at least in one specific case, the waterblock for the RTX 5090 Founders Edition has even decreased by about €30, likely due to a drastic drop in sales.

EK accompanied the announcement with a direct communication to users: it urged customers to complete any purchases before the new prices took effect and offered a 10% discount on complete custom loop orders placed by April 8.

It is undeniable that this situation is also a consequence of the significant drop in hardware sales. The memory crisis — and increasingly more components — has reduced the purchasing power of many users. This positions the custom loop as a non-essential accessory and one of the first areas where budgets are curtailed during purchasing.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the niche of enthusiast buyers has further shrunk, which is why accessories for high-end hardware have become much more difficult to move. In summary, it is a sector that has already experienced a progressive decline shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic and that, in the current context, will face perhaps an unprecedented challenge.