AIO Basic 240
EK £83
A step up from even the best air coolers
In the world of liquid
cooling, EK is a name
that needs little
introduction. The cooling
company’s Basic series is a little
different to its custom loops,
though. It focuses on value for
money – plus, it doesn’t feature
any RGB at all. If that sounds
good to you then the EK AIO
Basic 240 is well worth a look.
The EK Basic 240 really
stands out thanks to its build
quality. It feels hefty and
well-made. Though what really
impresses me is the cooling
performance on offer. I find it
goes very close to 360mm levels
of cooling capability. It does get
noisy if you try to push an
overclocked Rocket Lake CPU,
but then pretty much every
other cooler does too. That said,
most of the time it stays
essentially silent. The EK-AIO
basic 240 is perfect for builds
with a stealthy focus, or closed
case builds where lighting
doesn’t matter. With its build
quality and high performance,
it’s a cooler that you can surely
set and forget, out of sight, out
of mind, and out of earshot.SPECS SOCKET SUPPORT: INTEL LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1200, 2011, 2011-3, 2066, 1700; AMD AM4 / SIZE: 240MM /
RADIATOR DIMENSIONS: 275MM X 120MM X 27MM / FAN SPEEDS: 550-2200 RPM / NOISE LEVEL: UP TO 33.5 DB(A)
1
Nips at the heels of 360mm coolers
Good value for money
No RGB lightingVERDICT2Kraken Z73
NZXT £217High-end cooling with a touch of luxury
Sometimes only the
best will do, and short of
a fully custom loop, the
NXZT Kraken Z73 is as close as
you’re going to get. It’s pricey to
be sure, but oh so pretty.
The highlight of the Z73 is its
head mounted LCD, which
displays monitoring info in
conjunction with NZXT’s CAM
software or you can use your own
custom GIFs. It adds a lot of cost
to the unit, but it really does look
great. Though you are giving up
flashy fans for this functionality.
The Kraken Z73 can tame
pretty much any chip you care
to throw at it. Its fans can get
loud as a result, but we don’tmind having some optional
headroom for times when you
want outright performance.
Under normal circumstances, it
is very quiet indeed.
The Kraken Z73 is pricey, no
doubt about it, but it’s the kind of
cooler you’ll want to show off. It
provides great cooling
performance, there’s a lot of
headroom for OC and you’ll
spend ages playing with the LCD
display on the way to creating a
truly unique look for your rig.SPECS SOCKET SUPPORT: INTEL LGA 1200, 115X, 1366, 2011, 2011-3, 2066; AMD AM4, TRX40 AND TR4 / SIZE: 360MM /
RADIATOR DIMENSIONS: 394MM X 121MM X 27MM / FAN SPEEDS: 800-2800 RPM / NOISE LEVEL: UP TO 36 DB(A)2
Excellent cooling ability
Customisable pump head unit
Expensive compared to othersVERDICTGroup Test
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