When you think of high-end all-in-one water coolers, you quickly think of the Kraken series from manufacturer NZXT. Few brands have put themselves on the map with their high cooling performance and ecosystem as NZXT has. Now that new Krakens are on the way, the question is how they will perform against the competition. This is what we will discover in this review.

The new Krakens from NZXT are similar to the previous generation. So you can also talk about modernization, but at the same time some naming changes have been made and the clipboard has been changed. Previous Kraken X coolers are now simply called Kraken. The Kraken Z series now gets “Elite” in place of the last letter” As an addition, but it’s still based on the same seventh-generation Asetek design, which goes back several years. However, the waterblock is equipped with a screen with a slightly higher brightness and a much higher resolution of 640 pixels in height and width: four times as many pixels as with previous coolers. Thanks to the new controller, more animations can be displayed, such as extended graphics audiovisuals based on the audio being played. With the new generation Krakens, a single cable runs for the water pump for control and power supply, which used to use two separate cables. Additionally, the Aer fans on the Kraken X and Z have been replaced with F series fans on both the regular Krakens and Elites.

As usual with NZXT Kraken coolers, the factory warranty for this “update” is again six years. Suggested retail price for the tested NZXT Kraken Elite 360 ​​is €290; Kraken 360 RGB comes in at €210. The price difference between the version with and without RGB is 20 euros for the different versions.