NZXT Kraken X40 review

Final words and conclusion

The all in one Liquid Cooling kits are becoming a new trend, quite a few companies are releasing these products, most of them all use Asetek as an OEM. That's also why the product will be fairly close to each other in terms of performance. What matters a lot is the number of fans used and the radiator size. And that radiator size from it's typical 120mm towards 140mm does seem to make a very sturdy impression.

If you stick up-to 1.2~1.125 Volts on the processor,re ally the differences aren't that huge (cooling wise) compared to the X60 really. But once you reach 1.30 Volts, that where the differences start to really matter. Temps will go from perfectly fine to reasonably good. That's the direct result of radiator size, and thus cooling capacity. But for a 140mm product, the Kraken X40 certainly is impressive.

Stress

When the processor launched, we never had seen the heat issues with Ivy Bridge processors coming. Whatever you fire off at the processor, Ivy bridge remains hard to cool once overclocked with added voltage. I do say overclocked with added voltage specifically here though as at normal voltages and default settings, it is such a sweet processor. A handful of cooler can take 4600 MHz @ 1.30+ Volts, but really there are only very few in our tests that kept the temperature acceptable, and that was the 70 EUR Noctua NH-D14, a cooler design that has proven itself to be leading, many times over the years. The 100 EUR Corsair H100 series and the Kraken X60. The X40 remains a little dubious as it closes in on 75~80 Degrees C. Perhaps adding a second fan and placing the product in a push-pull configuration can shave off the little extra bite needed. it's that or choosing the extreme perf mode, which is noisy.

Software 

Added benefit is of course the Kraken control software. You can monitor and regulate your cooling solution on a software level. The software suite works well, but still has a bug or two. In fact we had the problem where the software reported it has 'lost the USB port' a couple of time. Overall though the Kraken software control suite works well and does exactly what it needs to do, but we do expect an update or two before it's perfect.

Aestethics & design

The overall looks are important and we feel the looks are just terrific, all black design, fairly easy to install with the mounting system, prefilled .. it's one of the more easy and comfortable kits on the market to use and install.

Lovely is the new option to customise the colour of the back-lit NZXT logo on the pump unit. It uses an RGB LED so you get to decide what color it needs to be. We do like to warn the manufacturers though, that coolling block is not a billboard to promote your flashy logo's, go a step too far and the end-users will pass on your product, it's that simple. Overall we do like the new Kraken X40 and X60 if you are on the lookout for some very decent cooling with a nice design versus easy installation.

Realistically though the multiple wires leading towards and out of the cooling block is a bit of a downside, but NZXT has sleeved their cables, and that makes up for a lot. Typically you install All-in-One LCS units for the clean looks, and right now you'll have three wires leading out of that cooling block next towards two thick tubes. 

Pricing

Reality remains that it the Kraken X40 offers to high-end but not enthusiast performance, it costs roughly 99 EUR, but please be realistic as enthusiast LCS products can easily cost you twice as much or even more. So make no mistake, the performance is really good, but remains to be just that if you compare it to proper LCS gear. Let me also remind you that you can easily spend 200/300 EUR on tubing, radiators, cooling blocks, reservoirs and so on whereas this all in one kit stays under 100 EUR for everything.

Final words

The conclusion will be close to the X60, I think NZXT has a very lovely offering with the Kraken X40. Please do make sure it will actually fit inside your system before you purchase it, it needs 140mm fan mounts which is a little more uncommon. Nothing you can't manage yourself with a drill of course. Also remember that this product is a slightly more noisy other products, but sure it performance is slightly better as well.Stick to silent mode and all will be fine, select extreme performance mode and you'll learn what I mean with noise ! 

Thje X40 is a fairly easy to install prodyct, it's good looking and offers nice performance as such you should definitely consider this kit. We feel that the 100 EUR is a warranted price for what you receive, as such comes recommended by Guru3D.com

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