NZXT Kraken X52 AIO CPU Cooler Review

Performance

The Kraken X52 does a perfectly good job at stock temps. The pump and fans didn’t have to work hard here, and we clocked +26c over ambient at full load. That’s on par with the Kraken X41, and the Kraken X61, so it’s nice to NZXT is consistent.

Overclocking the CPU didn’t prove much trouble for the X52 either. At just +36c it’s easily in the high-performance section of our charts. That score puts it on par with the Kraken X41, but running a little warmer than the bigger Kraken X61, as you might expect.

Acoustics performance on the X52 is superb, it didn’t go over 38dBA in our stock test. That’s a whole 2dBa quieter than the X61, x41, and x31 from NZXT. They’ve clearly made some improvements to their fan designs!

Overclocking cooling performance was fantastic, but even more impressive is that the fans topped out at 42dBa. That’s still quieter than most NZXT coolers, although the X61 with its larger fans was a little quieter.