NZXT Kraken X60 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

NZXT’s Kraken X60 is going to hit the market as the best pre-assembled CPU cooler money can buy. This means it is placed above the two current best competitors, the Corsair H100i (£90) and the Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme (£110). In light of that, NZXT have decided to capitalise on this market position and set a high premium for the Kraken X60 of approximately £115. Now, while one could easily dispute the value-for-money of such a proposition, this is clearly not what NZXT are trying to offer. NZXT’s Kraken X60 is trying to offer the best money can buy at this current point in time, and as of writing it does exactly that.

You may be wondering why I have mentioned “as of writing” so many times. Well time is crucial to all of this because there is no doubt Corsair (and others) will hit back with their own equivalent(s). At the time of writing we already known there is a Corsair H110 inbound. This is essentially a direct competitor to the NZXT Kraken X60. There is also a Corsair H90 on the way which will be a direct competitor to the NZXT Kraken X40. Therefore, how good the NZXT Kraken series is, depends on how aggressively Corsair price their competing products, and whether NZXT respond to this with a similar price. When both companies are offering near-identical Asetek-based products, you’d expect them to both compete on price.

With all that said, NZXT need to differentiate themselves with the non-price factors and we can see they have done a pretty good job at that too. Firstly, NZXT have offered excellent tubing with extended length, a very nice addition because anyone using this in a large case will tell you that the extra tube length can be really useful for the flexibility of the installation. Secondly, the attention to detail is excellent, all cables are exceptionally braided, everything looks and feels high quality and the black/white colour scheme is consistent throughout every part of the product. Thirdly, the included fans are capable of shifting immense amounts of air, they may not be the quietest in the world but they certainly make up for that in performance. Finally, the NZXT Kraken software and LED lighting customisations offer excellent finishing touches that just make your purchase feel that much more special. Not everyone will be into these features and if you don’t like the software then you can always not use it, or if you don’t like the LEDs then you can always turn them off.

My only concern with NZXT’s Kraken series is that the warranty isn’t substantial enough because knowing Corsair they will be offering 5 year warranties on their H110 (the expected Kraken X60 competitor). 2 years, in my honest opinion, is not enough. NZXT should stand behind their products for a longer period of time especially when they expect you to spend a whopping £115 on this bad boy.

As things stand currently, the NZXT Kraken X60 is the créme de la créme of the CPU cooler market. It ticks 95% of the right boxes, with exception to the relatively short warranty, and consequently it is close to exceptional. In this sense, I have thoroughly enjoyed testing the NZXT Kraken X60 and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an ultra high performance CPU cooler. Resultantly, I think the NZXT Kraken X60 is deserving of our Extreme Performance Award because it delivers exactly that….and then some. The only caveat to this comes back to my previously mentioned point – how will the market competition respond to NZXT’s Kraken X60?