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CPU-only thermal results with PBO enabled: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Without power limits enforced, the hottest CPUs on the market will hit their peak temperature (TJ Max) and thermally throttle with even the strongest of air coolers and even most liquid coolers on the market in intensive stress testing. For the best liquid coolers on the market, the results of this test will be shown using the CPU’s temperature.
However, when the CPU reaches its peak temperature, I’ve measured the CPU package power to determine the maximum wattage cooled, to best compare their performance. It’s important to note that thermal performance can scale differently depending on the CPU it’s being tested with.
We’ll start by looking at the performance of this cooler with AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, with the disclaimer that I’ve only had a limited amount of time to test coolers with this system.
The Kraken Plus’ results on AMD’s Ryzen 9950X3D are extremely impressive – the second-best I’ve seen thus far. Keep in mind, however, that to achieve this level of performance you’ll need to manually configure the AIO to run at full speed. By default, this AIO will run silently. Next up, we’ll examine how thermal performance can vary depending on whether this AIO is running at full speed or running silently.
CPU-only thermal results with power limits removed: Intel’s i7-14700K
Now let’s look at how this cooler performs with Intel’s i7-14700K. The performance here is insane, matching many 360mm AIOs and almost able to handle the full heat of the CPU. Keep in mind that I test coolers at 23 degrees Celsius! So if you’re using the cooler in an environment with a lower temperature, it may be able to handle the full power of the CPU.
Just as with AMD’s flagship CPU, the NZXT Kraken Plus 360 RGB shows the second-best performance I’ve seen from any AIO yet. But again, this is at full speed, which can be quite noisy.
If you set the cooler to run in silent mode, it won’t perform as strongly, similar to a good air cooler. However, it does run dead silent in that scenario, quieter than I am capable of measuring.
Maximum noise levels
A cooler’s maximum performance can’t be considered as the only important metric, because some coolers run louder or quieter than others. The maximum noise level this cooler operates at is 49.2 dBA, which isn’t as quiet as some competing coolers. So if dissipating the maximum amount of heat isn’t your main priority, you’ll likely want to limit its speed.
Please note that this cooler is listed twice in this list. At full speed, it might reach 49.2 dBA, but in silent mode, it operates so quietly that I can’t measure the noise level properly.
200W Power Limit
My recent reviews have focused more on tests with both the CPU and GPU being stressed, but many of y’all have indicated that you would like to see more CPU-only tests. So I’ve tested thermal and noise performance for AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D at stock CPU settings, which limits power consumption to 200W.
With a stock power configuration for AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D, NZXT’s Kraken Plus 360 RGB shows its dual nature again, running silently, but with thermals similar to an air cooler at default settings. When the cooler is allowed to run at full speed, it jumps ahead with some of the best results we’ve seen on this AMD platform.
150W CPU + 290W GPU results
Testing a CPU Cooler in isolation is great for synthetic benchmarks, but doesn’t tell the whole story of how it will perform. If your GPU is running a full load, it makes it harder for your CPU cooler to do its job due to the increased heat within your computer case.
The CPU power limit of 150W was chosen based on the worst CPU power consumption I’ve seen reported in gaming with AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D. My personal experience tells me most games use much lower amounts of power, but this might be biased by the games I play.
For this and the next test, I didn’t feel the need to test the cooler at its maximum potential. It performs well enough in silent mode, with the third-best results we’ve seen on AMD’s flagship CPU. If you really need the best thermals in this scenario, I’m sure you’ll get them if you allow the AIO to operate at its loudest noise levels.
140W CPU results
The last round of test results we’ll look at in today’s review is a test with a 140W power limit imposed. This level of power is dramatically easier to cool for most CPU coolers, making it the easiest test we’ll run with AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU for most reviews. But I’ve recorded lower power results for comparisons with SFF and air coolers for future reviews.
As with the previous results, I’ve limited testing to the silent mode here. There’s really no need for better thermals in this situation, and the cooler runs dead silently in this mode. Sure, if you let the fans at full speed, it would reduce thermals into the 50s, but what’s the point of that?
Noise Normalized CPU-only thermal results
Finding the right balance between fan noise levels and cooling performance is important. While running fans at full speed can improve cooling capacity to some extent, the benefits are limited, and many users prefer a quieter system. Many users consider these tests to be the most important of all, so let’s take a look at the cooler’s noise-normalized performance.
We’ll be looking at two different, distinct tests. We’ll first look at our traditional noise-equalized results with Intel’s i7-14700K, which places a full CPU load with the cooler’s noise levels set to 38.9 dBA.
With 257W cooled, NZXT’s Kraken Plus 360 RGB is one of the best AIOs on the market, hands down! Technically, Arctic’s Liquid Freezer III Pro did a single watt better, but that is a margin of error difference. As far as I’m concerned, these coolers perform equally strong when noise is normalized.
Now let’s take a look at our noise-equalized tests utilizing AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU. Two changes (in comparison to our first test) have been made to increase the difficulty of this challenge! The noise level of the CPU coolers has been reduced to 37.3 dBA, and I’ve also run a full load on MSI’s RTX 4070 TI Super GPU at the same time to increase the difficulty of this test.
Conclusion
NZXT’s Kraken Plus 360 RGB is a killer cooler with a dual nature: In its default mode, it operates silently, with noise levels so low I can’t properly measure them. Alternatively, users who don’t mind noise can enable the full, raw power of the AIO, letting it tackle the heat of the hottest overclocked CPUs, like Intel’s i7-14700K or AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
My only complaint about this AIO is that the 240 x 240 1.5-inch screen isn’t quite large enough to be useful. If you’re going to add a screen at all, it should be bigger and with a higher resolution. And if you don’t care about a screen, there are plenty of well-performing AIOs that cost a lot less than the new Kraken. Most aren’t as quiet as this beast in silent mode, though.
