32 MAY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE387
ASENTERTAININGASwefound theKraken
Z73 (Shopper 38 7)anditsGIF-slingingonboard
display,£250is hardly asensibleamountto
payfor anall-in-onewatercooler,even one
withtheZ73’s superlativecooling. Hopefully
the newX-3series,represented here bythe
240mm KrakenX53, canmatchthatlevelof
performancefor amore accessibleoutlay.
The entire seriesis positionedbelowthe
Z-3range,while building on the previousX- 2
rangewith newhardware anddesignfeatures.
There’s no screen, but youdoget anew pump
and the integratedlighting hasbeenupgraded
from all-whitetoaddressable RGB.The topof
the pumpunit can be rotated, so the light-up
NZXT logo can be correctly oriented if your
motherboard is mounted at an unusual angle.
THROWING SHADES
As is thenormfor NZXT coolers, setupis
simple.Pre-applied thermal pastetakes the
guesswork outofaddingyour own, and the
radiator’s fanmounting holeshavetheir own
vibration-dampening gaskets. It’s especially
easy if you’re mounting to an Intelsocket, as
the pumpmounting bracket is installed out of
the box.AMD’s AM4 socket is alsosupported,
and doesn’t require afundamentally different
building process,but you’llhavetoremove the
Intel bracket and fit the AMD oneinstead.
The more complex lighting makes forafew
more cables than the X-2model we tested, the
280mmKraken X62(Shopper348), but notto
an unreasonable degree.You’ll just need a
spareSATA power connectorand aspare USB
motherboard header to customise colours and
effects.There’s another 4-pin connector for
NZXT’s HUE lighting system, but if you haven’t
already boughtintothis, it doesn’tfeelthe
Kraken X53 is muchworsefor going without:
you just won’t be abletosyncits lighting with
othercomponents in HUE’s ecosystem.
VERDICT
Simple to install yet powerful and customisable,the Kraken X53isabrilliantly completecooler
ALL-IN-ONELIQUIDCPUCOOLER
AswiththeKrakenZ73,theKrakenX53
canbecustomisedwithNZXT’sfreeCAM
software.Youcan’tdisplayGIFs,butboththe
NZXTlogoand thesurrounding light ring can
be configured individually,and there’s a
veritable wealthofoptions. Not counting the
simple defaultshowingasolid colour,both
lightingzones have no fewer than 24 different
effects to choose from,oftenwithsub-
settings forbrightness and cycle speed. These
include some thatdynamically change the
colouring according to the volumelevel of
music, video or game sound, or visually
represent GPU or CPU temperature.
Thelatter don’tshowspecificnumbers like
the Kraken Z73, so it’s less useful as an offbeat
hardware monitor, but theydodemonstrate
how creative NZXT hasbeen. Muchmore
understated lightingoptions areavailable too,
of course –it’seven possible to re-create the
X-2series’signature spinning white effect.
SPLITPERSONALITY
CAM also presentsachoiceofSilent and
Performanceprofiles, as well as the ability to
createyour own. With the KrakenZ73, the
Performanceprofilewas more effective,but
not to the pointwhere itshigherfan noise
made it preferabletothe Silentprofile. With
the KrakenX53,the performance difference is
even narrower, as is the noise difference.
In thesilent profile, our Intel Core i7-4770K
–running at its stock 3.5GHz –idled between
29° and36°C, rising to 46-51°Cunderload and
peakingat52°C.Alittle surprisingly,the
highest readings in all three conditions weren’t
any lower under theperformance profile: the
lowest idle temperature got downto26°C, and
the lowestload temperature to 45°C, but
otherwise things were largely thesame.
Overclocking theCPU to 3.9GHz mixed
things up slightly, with theexceptionofidle
temperatures in the Silentprofile, whichonce
againspanned the28-38°C range.Silent mode
load temperatures rose atouch, to 48-55°C,
andthe chip briefly peakedat56°C.
Back on thePerformance profile, idle
temperatures were keptdown to 27-37°C, and
load temperatures were very slightly lower
than in Silent mode,at47-54°C. The highest
peak,however,remained at 56°C.
There are afew conclusions to draw from
these results. First, the Performance profile is
only atinybit coolerthan the Silentprofile,
but unlike with the Z73there’sbarely any
difference in noiseoutput, so you might as
well cut out that extra oneortwo degrees.
COLD LOGIC
More importantly,the KrakenX53 is just as
effective acooler as we were hoping for, and
that’s no smallfeat consideringhow well the
Z73 and X62 perform. TheZ73 is generally
better,but only by 2-3°C, andconsidering it
has both alarger 360mmradiator and an extra
fan–not to mention it costing more than
twiceasmuch –that still reflects well on the
X53. In turn, the Silverstone TundaTD02-RGB
is much cheaperand onlyrunsateeny bit
hotter, but it’snot nearly as quiet or
customisable as the KrakenX53.
In otherwords, this is our new toppickof
the all-in-ones. It’s notasadvanced as
anything in theZ-3 series, but it’s superbly
effective andanawful lotcheaper.
JamesArcher
NZXT KrakenX53
★★★★★
£120•From http://www.overclockers.co.uk
SPECIFICATIONS
TECHNOLOGYClosed loop•FANS3x 120mm•SOCKET
IntelLGA2066/2011-3/2011/1151/1150/1155/1156/1366,
AMDAM4/TR4 (TR4 requires separate bracket)•
RADIATOR DIMENSIONS (NOFAN)123x275x30mm•
WARRANTYSixyears RTB•DETAILSwww.nzxt.com•
PART CODERL-KRX53-01
