NZXT Kraken X40 RL-KRX40-01 Ultra Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler 140MM

Pros: I just ran my new build through a few tests, Itunes, Recording Vocals, WoW, and Google Chrome running in background and Temps never reached above 35 Degrees Celsius vs the stock AMD air cooled at 45 degrees on 3 fans full revs just browsing the net. I highly recommend based on price, ease to install, and Performance that I can base on so far it's a superb deal.

Cons: One very minor issue is the screws for Retention Kit for the AMD assembly were short. The manual calls for J- labeled screw to be used but they will not reach the back plate with AMD AM3+ processor on a Gigabyte GA-990FXA mobo. So if you install use the K Screws (longer) designed for the Intel install.

Overall Review: I ran into a slight issue with my clearance using the radiator/ fan set up with an ATX Mobo due to my case (Phantom 410)size so I got creative and install the fan on top of the case and the radiator underneath of it without chopping my case up (I love it). I moved a few fans around and got a cougar 140 millimeter fan to pair up on top of the other 140 slot just before you install the radiator install that fan first. The 2 holes are slightly covered no issue though.

Pros: It actually did a fantastic job at keeping my system cool. Right around 32-35C on normal usage.

Cons: Failed around 7 months into usage, the pump seemed to fail, I heard a 'draining' sound, and noticed liquid on my motherboard.

Overall Review: I wouldn't be so upset, as I knew this could happen, And I turned everything off fast enough that I don't think it damaged anything else. However, I filed a report on the manufacturer's website 2 days ago, and haven't recieved a response. They have "Live Chat" that always seems to be "offline", and don't have a technical support/RMA phone # to call. Ridiculous support. I have a warranty on the product, so I'll give it 15 days that I'm required to, then go thru other channels, but in the mean time, completely without my desktop computer.

Pros: -Easy to understand assembly (esp. if you've installed Asetek waterblocks before) -No maintenance -Compact -LED lights on water block -Top notch cooling performance for size -Silent IF you swap out fan

Cons: -LOUD EXHAUST FAN! -If you ever need to remove it, backplate spacers leave foam/adhesive residue on motherboard -Can be challenging to install with one person -Requires 140mm fan mount location -Price as relative to air coolers with similar performance

Overall Review: This is an excellent liquid cooler with only one major flaw - a LOUD exhaust fan. Other reviewers have commented on this and I thought they were simply being perfectionists. Nope - the noise is no joke. It sounds like a model airplane taking off at anything above 30%. That being said, if you swap out the stock fan for a Noctua (I used an NF-A14 PMW), the whole rig runs near silent. Cooling performance is on par with large air coolers like Silverstone's HE01/2 but is still more expensive than this (expensive) air solution. Currently, I have my Haswell 4670K running at 27 C at idle. This represents a 13 C drop over the stock air cooler. The reason to buy a liquid cooler of this size, however, it to have great cooling performance in a more compact design that a comparable air cooler or a larger liquid cooling solution. In this way, the x40 succeeds. The radiator is slimmer than a Corsair H80i and the tubes are longer. Finally, while I thought that the inclusion of the foam spacers that NZXT supplies for the backplate were a nice touch, the fact that the adhesive refuses to come off during removal is annoying. My advice and in summary: Buy it on sale, and grab a quieter 140mm PMW fan while you're at it. Together, you have a compact, quiet, maintenance free solution for those midtower/mATX builds.

Pros: This is a very nice cooler and does its function very very well. At first I was iffy on even buying a closed-loop water cooler mainly because of their price and the talked about "problems" with some brands.. After it came down to it you really do get what you pay for. I wiped the pre applied TIM and applied Arctic Silver 5 in a pea sized drop in the middle of my I5 3570k and watched idle around 24-25C with 26% fan speed and with the radiator sitting on the rear port or my Corsair 500r. Fan is barely noticed until its around 60% I almost forgot, you know that "NZXT" logo on the pump? WIth the software's help you can change its color to what ever you want, make it strobe, pulse, and even warn you if it reaches a certain temp.

Cons: I was looking at the Kraken X60 and I found my Poor Corsair Carbide 500r could not mount it... Even though NZXT's compatibility chart said it would.. Nothing my dear Dremel could not fix. I cut a small small portion of the cassing nobody would notice and it fit better then a glove. Not knocking an egg for that. The software included does not read the processor tempature and I just think that's a minor driver issue, nothing to knock off an egg. After all the rest of the software works better then the competition and my Asus Sabertooth z77 has ways of monitoring temps.

Overall Review: Not much to say asides this is more then worth its money. If you want a clean looking case then you can get a closed loop or even water cooling. I avoided a huge heat sink because of the RAM I wanted and because I wanted it to look aesthetically pleasing. Build consists of---- -Corsair Carbide 500r -Asus z77 Sabertooth -I5 3570k -Corsair Vengance 1600 (4x4gb) -ATI 4870 <- sounds like a laundry machine (replacing soon) -NZXT Kraken X40 -XFX 850w Pro XXX Edition -1 x Kingston HyperX 120gb -2 x Western Digital 1tb Black caviar (raid 0) -2 x 140mm Enermax Vegas Duo -2 x 120mm Cougar (non PWM)

Pros: Took my cpu temps from 38-40 celcius idle, down to 28-29cel idle. I can now run anything I want and was able to overclock an i5 2500k to 4600mhz temps never go go over 55 at max load. Great job NZXT! Was using an aftermarket fan based cooler prior to this, ten times better.

Cons: Took one egg off mostly for poor installation, parts weren't clearly labeled.

Overall Review: I would buy this product again, unlike other water coolers I haven't yet heard the sound of bubbles in the line.

Pros: I am not one to say many good things because rarely do things work to the point of "wow". The kraken does a good job a cooling. This i did expect and can report that my 2500k idles at 21C. I will say that the way this is mounted is more secure than the H50 i had last year on my 1090T.

Cons: Well this is where i ran into issues. First off the guy who wrote the instructions needs to be beat and re-educated on how to make a publication to the masses. Less time on translating to every other language i dont speak and more time describing what goes with what. The little baggies are not labeled (1155, 2011, 1366) individually. I've put together many things that do require you to look at the directions and this was one of the worst. I've done this whole setup before on the H50 but the kraken comes with more pieces to make it more secure to the MB. Which to use, what goes where took some sorting out. The tubing is pliable which is great compared to my old H50, however it seems to "stick out" more because there is longer tubing. I guess this would help out if you mounted it elsewhere, however in some tight cases this could be a problem. I was worried the tubing would rub up against the fan of my Thor V2 case. It didnt. It does just hover above my gtx 580 though. The fan is terribly loud. I will use the software to make a profile for it which is no biggie. The block is some what bulky with all the added connectors. I do not have a 3 pin connector female end adapter to hook up to the MB so i guess i will have to get one of those. To me this is not enough to knock of an egg. Just my observations. I would buy again

Overall Review: I suggest mounting the fan first then find your hardware needed and then attach the reservoir. I had a hard time trying to get one of the mounting screws to screw into the back plate. I wanted to mount it and apply firm pressure to get a nice seal on the cpu. Did not happen. I guess maybe if i had another pair of arms..

Pros: Keeps my i5-2400 cool when under full load.... Max temp ever recorded (with Prime 95): 44C Lowest temp (while idling): 23C Average when playing CoD 4; LoL; etc...:~33C Easy installation. Looks great in my case...

Cons: One thing to comment on is the fact that the tubes are a little long for my case. My radiator is mounted in the back and the tubes extend so far that they are touching the DIMMs on the far side of the board, and are wrapping around back touching the whole top of my case....If you have fans on the top of you're case, and you have a decently sized ATX case... Then you might be in trouble. If your case is wide, then you might be able to route the cables around the fans... I have the Fractal Design Define R4 with no fans on the top, so its fine...

Overall Review: Maybe if the software could let you control the fan pump that would be nice... Great product, worth the price... Specs: ~ i5-2400 (3.1 Ghz, 3.4 Ghz Turbo) ~ ASRock Extreme 4 P67 Motherboard ~ MSI GTX 660 Twin Frozr III ~ Wintec AmpX 4 GB DDR3-1333 CAS 7 RAM ~ Fractal Design Define R4 ~ Crucial M4 SSD 128 GB ~ Rosewill CAPSTONE 550W Modular

Pros: Keeps the 8350 @ 4.4GHz and 1.4 volts nice and cool- 20C idle and 55C full load over 15 mins w/ Prime 95. R9 290x w/ G10 bracket and heatsinks on the VRAM @ 50C full load. (Arctic 5 for both) Nice unit. X60 seems overkill. Of course, the above temps depend on the custom settings I have w/ the Kraken control. Better temps are a definite, if you can stand a little noise.

Cons: I hear one of the fans make a knocking sound every so often. It's not really that loud or anything and not too often. Installation is not hard, but some things are not stated in the instructions. First of all- you will need to remover the old, stock setup. Four screws taken out, around the CPU and you're in business to start following NZXT instructions. Both of my units, and from what I understand, all AIO coolers, have an air bubble in them. Can't be helped? I don't know, but be sure to install the radiator /above/ the pump for best performance.

Overall Review: Fits fine in top and back of Rosewill Thor V2 case, just use the holes closest to the open side, to keep the radiator away from the motherboard. Happy overclocking :)