I don't know if Parker Schnabel reads PC Gamer, but if he does, I have a message for him—we found your cooler. EKWB unveiled a couple of all-in-one cooling solutions this week, one of which is the Special Edition EK-AIO Elite Aurum for gold enthusiasts. Well, sort of.
This is essentially a golden version of the regular EK-AIO Elite with a glossy pump cover. It is not actually made of real gold, though (that would have been tacky, right?), and instead sports a gold-like nickel finish "for those who want their PCs to sparkle," EKWB says.
The same glossy, gold-like nickel finish also applies to the diamond cut rotary fittings. For the rest of the PC, it's up to you to make the cooler's golden theme blend in, like pairing it with a kit of G.Skill Trident Z Royal RAM and dialing up the RGB lighting. Bonus points if your PC rocks a power supply unit with 80 Plus Gold certification.
Being an all-in-one liquid cooler, there is no assembly or maintenance required, outside of general housekeeping chores (like blasting out the dust bunnies every so often). It comes with six EK-Vardar S high-static PWM fans (120mm) with RGB lighting. They are intended to be installed on both sides of the radiator to create a push-pull configuration, but if doing so means the cooler is too chunky to fit inside your PC, EKWB says another option to install three of the fans on the case itself.
A multi-connection cable hub is also included. It offers up seven sets of addressable RGB lighting headers and 4-pin PWM headers. EKWB elected not to give the hub a golden makeover, but in most cases, it will sit out of sight behind the motherboard tray anyway.
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The EK-AIO Elite Aurum is available to preorder for $230 (gold doubloons not accepted) and is expected to ship out early next month.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, EKWB also introduced the EK-AIO Basic, which is exactly as it sounds—a basic all-in-one liquid cooler without the bling. Instead of a golden appearance, it keeps thing minimalistic with a black brushed "aluminum-like" pump cover and black fans (no RGB lighting).
There are two versions, one with a 240mm radiator ($90) and one with a 360mm radiator ($120), both of which are available now.
