NZXT Kraken X52

[HEXUS]

Is this the best-looking all-in-one CPU cooler money can buy?

Read more.

[Tunnah]

"More of a ballache to install, more expensive than, and not as good performance as, a Noctua" - applies to this, and pretty much all, of these AIO coolers.

I dunno if it's just because I'm getting older, but I just can't justify including something like this in a build when air coolers are doing a bang up job on their own, without introducing more moving parts and liquid

[EvilCycle]

It is definitely a good looking cooler, but as I am not made of money I would rather stick to something like the 212 evo, on my kind of budget that cooler is not far off the price I would pay for the CPU itself!

Now if I was very rich and simply wanted to build the best looking machine money could buy as a hobby project, something like this would be a very nice touch indeed, especially inside a matching NZXT case!

[jm101]

EVO here as well and with temps going down the use for such stuff is more want then need.

[Andy14]

"More of a ballache to install, more expensive than, and not as good performance as, a Noctua" - applies to this, and pretty much all, of these AIO coolers.

I dunno if it's just because I'm getting older, but I just can't justify including something like this in a build when air coolers are doing a bang up job on their own, without introducing more moving parts and liquid

Well said.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

"More of a ballache to install, more expensive than, and not as good performance as, a Noctua" - applies to this, and pretty much all, of these AIO coolers.

I dunno if it's just because I'm getting older, but I just can't justify including something like this in a build when air coolers are doing a bang up job on their own, without introducing more moving parts and liquid

It helps in my mini-ITX system as it cuts down on a bulky cooler in the case.

[Jowsey]

"More of a ballache to install, more expensive than, and not as good performance as, a Noctua" - applies to this, and pretty much all, of these AIO coolers.

I dunno if it's just because I'm getting older, but I just can't justify including something like this in a build when air coolers are doing a bang up job on their own, without introducing more moving parts and liquid

Whilst i'd normally agree, trying to mess around with a giant heatsink in my evolv ITX vs pulling out the rad try, doing the screws there then popping the pump onto the CPU then sliding the rad tray in the top was a game changer.

Cases just don't provide the ease of use that they could to people installing AIO coolers.

[jamz4]

How loud was it in performance mode? seems odd to leave that out

[jamz4]

How loud is it in performance mode?

[BiggYinn]

I cannot comment on the NEW X52 but having owned the x41 and x61 coolers since they first came out i can strongly say these are great little coolers more so the latter on my soon to be replaced AMD FX9370 the 280mm radiator has kept this thing with its high 220TDP under check with reasonable cooling using fan profiles which dont make it sound like its trying to lift off
And better results than AIR cooling which the AIO replaced

[phill8800GT]

The only real reason I see you'd need one of these AIO's if you have high ram and want to occupy all of the ram slots on the motherboard. As Tunnah mentions air coolers are great but custom water will always be my preferred cooling method. Expensive, but you get what you pay for
Only thought in my mind is, where are the Corsair H110i or whatever their version is??

[Ulti]

I wonder how this fares in the real world versus a low speed fan on a air cooler. I've always found the water cooler to be noisier and on low speeds they perform significantly worse. If the benchmark numbers are accurate then this is exactly what I'm after, something that is quieter than an air cooler like the Noctua that also looks good and performs "alright". I'm not after getting my CPU to 40C at the expense of noise - I'm happy if it runs on 60C on load if it's whisper quiet which is exactly what my air cooler does now but it's a big ugly piece of metal which ends up dumping the heat inside the case as my fans are running on rather low speed. Only issue I can see is the price - HOW MUCH are they asking again?!?!

[Disputes]

won't lie the x62 looks good, but its around £150! And from what I've seen its hardly different from the x61. And still, at that point, you are very close to custom loop territory. Shame really. it feels like they didn't get the right idea