Are barrow water blocks any good?

[terroralpha]

hello,

 

i am looking to water cool a vega 64. the choices for water blocks are pretty slim. i can get an EK block for $130, and an aquacomputer block for $140. which is far more than i want to spend on a block. but i can also get a barrow block for about $85. therein lies my dilemma. 

 

any thoughts? 

[SwingLifeAway92]

Honestly I'd go with the ekwb I have one solid block and trustworthy. I personally don't know anything about barrows but, most people I know who've bought sub $100 gpu blocks have never had a good time afterwards and usually regretted fairly soon after.

[Damascus]

Barrow is basically off brand bitspower, it will be decent.  It (and byski) are the Chinese equivalent of EK &co are in the west.

[W-L]

47 minutes ago, terroralpha said:

hello,

 

i am looking to water cool a vega 64. the choices for water blocks are pretty slim. i can get an EK block for $130, and an aquacomputer block for $140. which is far more than i want to spend on a block. but i can also get a barrow block for about $85. therein lies my dilemma. 

 

any thoughts? 

I haven't used them before but others who have tried them said they have had great success with it. Personally I would just double check and pressure test them, thief fittings though are pretty good. 

[Billy_Mays]

What I've heard about Barrow they are the best budget water cooling gear (from the EKWB discord and the knowledge is from CoreComplex on the discord server and I can't supply a link to it)

[terroralpha]

2 hours ago, Damascus said:

Barrow is basically off brand bitspower, it will be decent.  It (and byski) are the Chinese equivalent of EK &co are in the west.

why do people keep refereeing to EK as if they are some third rate company? their waterblocks are consistently the top performers and they provide actual customer support... unlike alphacool, who twice told me to go deal with the seller and refused to warranty anything. 

 

but i looked at Bynski blocks after your post and actually found a water block review using a founders 1080, and Bynski was actually near the top of the overall performance charts, second only to EK at the very top (as usual) if you exclude set ups with $40-$50 back plates. head and shoulders over alphagarbage. chart below.  

Spoiler

flow restriction (or lack thereof) is amazing, almost as good as EK: i can run the pump at a low speed like i do with my current setup. 

Spoiler

 

 i think i'll try a bynski block this time around. i have a $10 coupon on alibaba, so this block will come out to $81 shipped. not bad. 

[Damascus]

28 minutes ago, terroralpha said:

why do people keep refereeing to EK as if they are some third rate company? their waterblocks are consistently the top performers and they provide actual customer support... unlike alphacool, who twice told me to go deal with the seller and refused to warranty anything. 

I think EK is top notch, even if the rads arent the best. It was a compliment to byski not an insult to EK.

[terroralpha]

1 hour ago, Damascus said:

I think EK is top notch, even if the rads arent the best. It was a compliment to byski not an insult to EK.

oh, my bad. i've seen a lot of people claiming that EK is bad lately. i can't for the life of my figure out why and when i see it i get all defensive, as if it's my own company. lol.

 

but yea, the reviews i've seen show that recent bynski GPU blocks are as good as some of the best. i just placed an order on aliexpress for one of their blocks. $$82.96 shipped. i'll have to pressure test it myself first, but i don't think i will find any problems. thanks