NZXT Kraken X40 & X60 Sealed Liquid CPU Cooler Review @ [H]

NZXT Kraken X40 & X60 Sealed Liquid CPU Cooler Review - Pardon the cliche', but it must be done. NZXT RELEASES THE KRAKEN! Now since that is out of the way, we take a long [H]ard look at NZXT's new line of Kraken branded sealed system water coolers for your CPU. This type of cooler is quickly becoming the norm for many enthusiasts looking for a quick and easy cooling solution.

I researched the X60 a bit because I decided to finally go with an AIO water cooler and almost every other site has it easily beating the H110 in noise and performance. I knew I should have waited for the [H] review. Perhaps strapping 4 fans at low RPMs will make a difference for me.

When AMD releases the new 5GHz chips I'd love to see a [H] test of coolers that can withstand the heat. And once again a great review. I need to go back and read the article, but I wonder how NZXT's RMA process is? I know I can rely on Corsair's RMA department to be easy, seamless, and knowledgeable. That would be my only reservation in recommending these coolers to family and friends. I was speed reading the article at the start to get to the numbers, so if I missed that I apologize.

I would like to see a review of the Cooler Master Eisberg's. These use copper rad fins. They seem to do well on other review sites.

A very useful review. I'm beginning to think about my gaming PC build and it will probably have an AIO.

A Swiftech H220 should be in the list.

tikiman2012 said:

A Swiftech H220 should be in the list.

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I agree.
I also heard rumors that Swiftech would launch a larger sealed liquid cooler during the summer (H320).

I just installed 2 Kraken x40's in my 2 sons computers. 1 this past weekend & the other was last Thursday.


ASUS P8Z77-V LK - Intel Core i5-3570K, G.SKILL Value 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600 - NZXT Kraken X40 - EVGA GTX 670 FTW.


Asus M5A97 EVO - AMD FX 8350 - 8 Gigs (2x4) Corsair Vengeance 1600 - NZXT Kraken X40 - EVGA GTX 670 FTW.

And the Swiftech H220 wasn't in this review because?

Buy one and send it over and we will get on it!

JosiahBradley said:

I researched the X60 a bit because I decided to finally go with an AIO water cooler and almost every other site has it easily beating the H110 in noise and performance. I knew I should have waited for the [H] review. Perhaps strapping 4 fans at low RPMs will make a difference for me.

Click to expand...

It is odd that I did the same thing and came to the same conclusion. This is the only review I've seen where the H110 beat the x60 after reading what seemed like dozens. Still, doesn't matter too much to me as I based the decision on the fact that I would have had to modify my case for the H110 but the kraken was direct bolt in.

More expensive than I expected to be competing with corsair.

140mm, very nice. Nice to see more competition out there. I still would like to see a 180mm AIO. I swear I saw one by a pc builder, cant recall which. Unfortunately, you couldnt buy one off the shelf. They only come with pc's ordered (

Jeremy C said:

It is odd that I did the same thing and came to the same conclusion. This is the only review I've seen where the H110 beat the x60 after reading what seemed like dozens. Still, doesn't matter too much to me as I based the decision on the fact that I would have had to modify my case for the H110 but the kraken was direct bolt in.

Click to expand...

not so odd really.. I saw others review where the H110 perform a bit better than the X60 (minimal diference almost null).. as example this on anandtech or this on gamernexus and even this at hardware secrets show as winner the h100i... and several others web..

I personally always trusted on the [H]reviews as when i make similar test i receive pretty similar or nearly the same results.. ..

I agree. From what I've seen the h220 more or less dominates any review that includes it, which makes its absence here very strange and also disappointing.

I wish you guys would simultaneously condense and expand the low/high data tables into something significantly more versatile. Currently, I have to scroll up/down to compare temperatures and noise levels, which is kinda silly.

Take this for example:



The graph presents numerous data points in an easy-to-understand manner and will effortlessly scale as you add more coolers. Additionally, you'd only need 4 data points to interpolate a reliable polynomial, and you guys already have 2 of them.

The x60 has 15mm spacing between fan mounting holes & 16" hoses. The H110 has 20mm spacing between fan mounting holes & 12" hoses. So measure before you buy. The corsair fans are louder but both Corsair or NZXT fans move air thru the radiators. The NZXT has software & a usb connection to read the pump speed (so you have to disable cpu fan header monitoring in the bios at 1st start) while the H110 reads pump speed with just bios monitoring of cpu fan header. The X60 says 2900 RPM using it's software while the H110 says1500 RPM using bios or cpu fan monitoring. So I swapped the X60 stator (motor) with the H110 stator. While they show different pump speeds I saw no difference in cpu temperature running the radiator fans at the same speed. Currently using the X60 because it mounted easiest for me.

Oddly enough, this review sells me on the SilverStone HE01 more than either of the offerings from NZXT (or the offerings from Corsair). That air cooler stole the show.

Looking at the temps generated while overclocked... which is probably what we're all interested in:
- At high fan speed, the HE01 cools better and is quieter than the X60.
- At low fan speed, the HE01 is neck-and-neck with the X60 (but again, the HE01 is quieter).

The HE01 can be had for as low as $65, pretty hard to take the X60 seriously when it's $107.

Unknown-One I have the HE-01 & I think it's the best air cooler. The X60 is definitely cooler from my tests with both coolers. I'm using 4 slower 1200RPM cougars in P/P on the X60 & I had even added a 120mm x 15mm thick fan on the HE-01, but the X60 still bests the HE-01 by 5-10C. Now 5-10C vs the cost & PITA mounting of the X60 might make the HE-01 the winner but temp wise X60 is cooler.

Yeah, but see, I was concerned with cooling capacity vs. noise produced to gain that cooling capacity.

I'm sure you managed to finally make the X60 generate significantly cooler temperatures than the HE01, but you had to dump a bunch of money into additional fans and you had to make it a much noisier cooler in order to pull it off... thus throwing the price / performance / noise ratio even farther out of whack.

You can throw CFM at any cooler until it performs, that still doesn't make it a good cooler.

I've got a Cooler Master 830 housing the following

Corsair HX 850
Asus M5A97 revision 2.0
AMD FX 8120
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 x4
Asus HD 7770 x2 (NOT Crossfire - 4 Discreet Monitors)
Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
Toshiba 3Tb drives x4
Asus BW-12B1ST Blu-ray Writer
Scythe S-Flex SFF21D 120MM Case Fans X6

Ok.. had a problem recently when I upgraded from 16Gb of Corsair XMS3... the Vengeance with heat spreaders is nearly twice the height. This put 2 of the mem modules in conflict with placement of the True Copper cooler I was using for my CPU. Its a massive block of metal fins, and suddenly I couldn't use it.

Fine.. I grabbed the little metal box the CPU came in, and sure enough, the AMD reference cooler is TINY by comparison. I rebuilt my system, started it up, and was good to go. Until I started gaming. The reference cooler is fine at idle and low draw, but do anything graphic intensive and it sounds like a car radiator fan kicking in! It just starts HOWLING.

I ordered the Kraken X40, as I don't overclock any more, and I only play Dungeons & Dragons online (albeit with all the settings maxed in DX9 these days, the other DXs are STILL buggy)

So, installed the software 1st... and then ?

Problems...

1st.. the instructions are a bit vague in assembly, they don't really cover orientation of fittings before snapping them on. Also, there's no 'standard' for parts. The included fan doesn't use Universal Case/Fan screws, it uses thin machine screws 1-1/2" long.

2nd... the Radiator has no means to attach a fan ASIDE from those screws, and there is ONLY holes for 140mm. So, if you have a REALLY nice couple of extra 120mm you wanted to double up and get some DP push/pull fan lovin... not going to happen. Also, with the thickness of the radiator, sandwiching it between 2 fans is going to get into clearance issues for any case smaller then a steamer trunk.

3... NZXT uses that annoying grey shit thermal contact sheet on the surface... but it's in a sphere, so the corners of your CPU aren't getting any love.. so I dabbed on an eensy bit of Arctic Silver.

Ok... lots of these little snap fittings need to be oriented in a VERY specific direction, so triple check before you snap things together... they are a royal bitch getting back apart if you goofed. Also, make sure you use the LONG screw down pegs for AMD install, the instructions fail to mention that.

After everything is connected, then the other problem come up. The metal machine screws MIGHT be long enough if your mount point is very thin sheet metal. IF you're like me however, you're in trouble. I have a really nice fan rack that swings open and closeed on the side of my case. It locks shut and you slide on the outer case wall over it. The rack holds 4 fans ranging from 80mm to 140mm.
PERFECT!!
Except the screws aren't long enough to mount through the plastic fan frame. I have a nice collection of machine screws, and found some sufficiently long enough with VERY similar thread... so I just slowly used them to re-thread the radiator, then mounted the fan & radiator to the fan frame. I made it snug, but didn't bore down. The metal doesn't feel terribly strong, as it re-threads fairly easily.

Next connect the power connector AND the USB plug to the motherboard and fired it up

I could hear the faintest 'gurgling' from a bit of air in the system as it began to circulate.. but after a few seconds the pump had it atomized and the cooling system is silent. It works exactly as I had hoped, and I am VERY happy.

*****OOPS!!!*****

Quick update...

installing the software for the Kraken seems to have borked my Symantec Internet Security install. I had to use their remover tool then re-install, but everything seems to be running peachie-keen again..

Still enjoying the quiet >_<