NZXT Introduces Kraken X41, X61 All-in-One Liquid Coolers

News
By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

NZXT's new Kraken X41 and Kraken X61 closed-loop liquid coolers come with a six year warranty.

The Kraken X61

NZXT has announced its new Kraken X41 and Kraken X61 liquid coolers at their suite in the Grand Hyatt at COMPUTEX 2014, and they look like excellent successors to the older X40 and X60 liquid coolers. They carry 140 mm and 280 mm water coolers, respectively.

Both the units are built using Asetek's new Gen. 4.5 design which brings support for a variable pump speed. While many pumps can be slowed down through undervolting them, these pumps now officially support it through the software. The pumps can spin at speeds of around 3600 RPM when running at 100 percent.

The Kraken X41 now has a thicker radiator than found previously on the X40, improving thermal performance. Now at 35 mm thick, according to NZXT it was a worthy sacrifice to ditch compatibility with a small number of cases to improve performance by a very noticeable margin in every other.

The Kraken X41

The fans on the units have also been refreshed, and now feature thicker, stronger blades (our representative told us that apparently fan blades came off the hub from time to time with the older units when running at high RPMs), as well as better bearings, all in all which make fans put out a higher airflow to noise ratio. Combine that with the variable speed pump and you should be able to get some very low idle noise levels.

Of course, the water loops also come with support for NZXT's new CAM software, and soon it'll be possible to control multiple Kraken water coolers individually.

Pricing for the units is set at $109.99 and $139.99 for the X41 and X61, respectively, and they can be preordered immediately through the NZXT armory. Warranty is also now set at a massive six years, which NZXT claims is the longest warranty period available in the market.

Also, a special thanks goes out to Mitchell Podlaha, who gave us the tour at the suite.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • notherdude
    The name alone should assure their success. Of course temperatures are all too easy to measure so maybe not.
    Reply
  • thundervore
    I congratulate NZXT on revamping their Kraken line of coolers. I am more than impressed that they bumped up the warranty to 6 years which trumps Corsair by a whole year. It shows that they now have faith in their product where as other companies give you a simple 1 year or 2 year warranty.

    As for the X61, i was really hoping to see a combo cooler like the Asetek 760GC released just with a 38mm thick 280 rad but i can keep dreaming. If i did not already have a H80i i would jump on the X61 but waiting for NZXT to learn how to integrate their HUE lighting kit with their CAM software, this way they can be in direct competition with Corsair who seems to think it is fun to charge customers $29.99 for 9 LEDs in a kit and offer them no way of buying more LED strips unless they buy multiples of the kit even though their customers have been asking them to sell the LED strips separately for 2 years!!
    Reply
  • razor512
    Seems pretty cool. I currently have the kraken x40 cooling my Phenom II x6 1075T overclocked and running at 1.56V. at load it can stay under 45C. (not sure how much it uses when overclocked, but at stock speeds and voltages, it pulls 125 watts)

    Only issue is due to my case, the Antec Three hundred, To install the cooler at the top of the case, I had to cut out the the top mesh material since it was not flush with the case, and then install the 140mm fan outside on the top of the case in a pull configuration (best configuration as it makes cleaning the radiator easy with a vacuum cleaner home.

    (my ugly build http://i.imgur.com/f6LbrJp.jpg
    since it lacks good cable management, I keep the wires closer to the side panel part of the case so that the airflow over the motherboard does not get obstructed)
    Reply
  • soccerplayer88
    Damnit. I just picked up my Kraken x60 last week. Oh well.

    Although it doesn't look like the radiator has changed at all and the first thing I did was to change out the stock fans. Well now I'm not so upset.

    Beyond that, your Kraken software sucks NZXT but your product is solid.
    Reply
  • tstubbas
    Love to see that its supporting the new LGA 1150 processors and with a 6 year warranty I think it should speak for itself. I am glad I waited to decide on CPU cooling when I finished my build in December, now this will compliment my Rosewill Thor V2-W case nicely
    Reply
  • unimatrixalpha
    Let's just say Corsair was inspired by NZXT. Isn't that the line that Apple likes to use whenever it steals other companies ideas and tech? Any ways, the big difference between this and the G10 is that the VRMs are actively cooled by use of the shroud as a heatsink and the OEM fan rather than fan only cooling of the G10, which doesn't cool the VRMs all that well.
    Reply
  • unimatrixalpha
    Also, for the cost of $40 for Corsair's unit, they should've included a radial/blower fan instead of relying on users' fans. That way the unit would truly be universal and not be limited to a particular model of GPUs. Corsair's unit is an improvement but the NZXT G10 is 25% cheaper in price and it includes a fan.
    Reply
  • dhornbrook
    I see people mention Corsair, but I was under the understanding that they are all made by Asetek. Which makes these water coolers for the companies. Any company that tries to come up with their own design, gets taken to court by this company.

    I recently bought Kraken X60 as well. Even this short of time, using the cooler. The improvements that are listed is something that is needed. I am still having issue trying to install the latest version of their buggy software. But version 1.1 works fine for me. I might be replacing the fans. From around 50 percent power on up is where you really hear these fans. At 100 percent, you almost need the computer in another room.

    Well anyway, the new version sounds like a winner. If they stick with it and improve the software to control multiple units then looks like they will be a winner.
    Reply
  • thundervore
    13438378 said:
    I see people mention Corsair, but I was under the understanding that they are all made by Asetek. Which makes these water coolers for the companies. Any company that tries to come up with their own design, gets taken to court by this company.
    .

    There are about 6 manufactures on the market producing AIO liquid cooling.

    Asetek is the major one and most AIO are rebranded models with just little tweaks from companies. They usually have the round waterblock.

    CoolIT is second in line as they created all of the square waterblock Corsair AIO coolers. Corsair rebrands CoolIT and Asetek AIO units.

    Zalman is not new to the game but their latest Reserator AIO units which they manufactured have not made headlines. They also sold rebranded Asetek units under their LQ line of AIOs.

    Swifteck also makes AIO but was sued by Asetek so they could not sell their units state side but are available outside the US. CoolerMaster brought licensing rights to their H220 and H320 units and rebranded them, CM now sells the units as their Glacier series.

    CoolerMaster have their own line of coolers which are not rebranded such as their Esberg, Nepton and Seidon line of coolers.

    Antec who also sold rebranded Asetek units now have their own units out under their Kuheler line,

    Silverstone just came into the market creating their own unit with better radiator tech with the TD01 and TD02. Enermax brought licensing rights and rebranded the units as their Liqtech line of AIO.

    Artic, Thermaltake and NZXT units are all rebranded Asetek AIO units.
    Reply
  • DjokoB
    i have tested nexus 4, its a great phone. i excpect much from LG G3. LG a getting better and better.
    Here you an app for wallpapers <a https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lgg3.wallpapers.lgwallpapers”>LG G3 Wallpapers</a>
    Reply