Test results …
Now it’s time for the NZXT Kraken Plus 360 RGB to show what it can do!
To control the fans and the pump, we are making an exception and using the CAM software explained above, as these can only be controlled using this software. Since most of the AIOs tested previously did not have directly controllable pumps and therefore always ran at maximum speed, we also set the pump of the NZXT Kraken Plus 360 RGB to 100%. The pump speed in the test was thus 2940 rpm, which is even 140 rpm above the official specification of 2800 rpm. However, this is still well within the +-300 rpm tolerance.
The test system consists of an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which was optimized using PBO +200MHz and Curved Optimizer -20 on all cores, achieving an impressive 5.7GHz in single boost and 4.7GHz in Prime on all cores, connected to 2x16GB Corsair DDR5 RAM Pro with 6000MT/ s CL36. The motherboard used is the ASRock X870 Pro RS. The graphics card is also from ASRock, a 7800XT Steel Legend OC.
Review of the temperature using Prime95 version 30.19 Build 20. The ambient temperature was approximately 22°C. Prime95 ran for a good 5 minutes until it became apparent that the temperatures were not rising any further.
The fans were set to 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% using the CAM software, which yielded the following temperature results in the test.
The temperatures of the NZXT Kraken Plus 360 RGB perform very well. Even with the fans throttled to only 25% speed, 81°C is absolutely OK, and that with a low system noise level of approx. 49 dB(A). At 50% speed, with only 76°C, the noise level increases by just 2 dBA to 51 dBA. Even at 75% and 1750 rpm with 75°C, the noise level remains reasonable at 55 dBA, but is now just barely audible from the case. At 100%, the 2400 rpm makes it clearly audible and it is no longer silent. The temperature only drops by another °C to 74°C, which is really good, but quite loud in the long run. 60 dBA is no longer quiet, so it’s better to wear headphones with NC.
Since there are hardly any measurable differences between running the pump at 80% or 100%, we think that around 80% is a reasonable value for normal operation.
NZXT Kraken Plus 360 RGB lighting …