NZXT Kraken Elite 420 RGB AIO Liquid Cooler Review

With the NZXT Kraken Elite 420 RGB, the company is pulling out all the stops to deliver an AIO cooler that checks all of the boxes for those with the budget to shop for this endgame solution. Boasting a huge 420mm radiator with seamless fans, a pump equipped with NZXT’s Turbine tech, and an impressively bright and vivid screen, on paper the Kraken Elite 420 RGB delivers it all. After testing this AIO cooler with a new AMD build, it’s time for my review.

Unleashing the beast

Once it’s unboxed, the scale of the Kraken Elite 420 RGB makes itself known. It’s not just the radiator that impresses with its size, as the cooler’s density and the 2.72” display also look and feel substantial. Pound for pound, there’s a lot of tech here, and it’s impressive to see it all come together with the aim of cooling the latest CPU hardware, with overclocks very much enabled. 

Boosted screen tech

If you’re opting for this range of cooler, the screen is no doubt going to be a focus. Happily, customizing the display is super simple and compatibility might be wider than you expect. Sure, you can set an image or GIF to appear, but you can also display your PC’s performance stats or even pair with apps like Spotify to show music playing. 

The screen is of good quality, too, as it’s an IPS display with a resolution of 640×640 and 60 Hz refresh rate. A ring wraps around the display to add even more RGB flair.  

Simple setup

Set-up couldn’t be simpler, with NZXT including tool-free brackets for Intel and AMD, pre-applied thermal paste, and minimal cables thanks to the three 140mm fans held within a single frame. 

With the sheer volume of material and coverage, you’d hope that the Kraken Elite 420 RGB performs well and I’m happy to confirm that it does indeed. For my AMD build, I used the 9950X CPU and was hugely impressed by the low temps without any tuning required. The pump and fans were surprisingly quiet in their stock configuration, another bonus.

Of course, when you’re buying a premium AIO cooler like this, you’re probably looking to push performance to the next level with overclocking. Again, the Kraken Elite 420 RGB doesn’t disappoint and I imagine all but the most hardcore of overclockers, who turn to exotic setups, will be satisfied by the numbers achieved by NZXT’s flagship. 

Things to note

When it comes to downsides, the first one is obvious: the size of this 420mm version is going to be too much for many cases. If you’re looking to upgrade your setup and reuse a trusty mid-tower case, you’ll definitely want to double-check compatibility to ensure this cooler fits. It’s huge!

The other downside is the fan setup. While I love how clean NZXT’s multi-fan in a single-frame design is, it does mean users won’t be able to swap out a single fan if it dies. I’ve had a couple of fans die in systems over the years, so I think it’s well worth keeping this in mind. 

Disclosure: Review sample provided by NZXT.