Performance
This is designed to be a high-performance cooler, so it’s no surprise that it makes like work of our demanding and hot-running Intel Core i9. This is not an easy CPU to keep cool, so seeing it run at just 70c at full load on stock settings is really impressive. That’s also enough to put it on par with the mighty be quiet! Silent Loop 3, which is an equal size 420mm AIO and more than enough to make this one of the best coolers we’ve tested on this CPU!
When we use our optimised settings, which takes our Intel Core i9-12900K to 4.9 GHz on all P-Cores and 4 GHz on all E-Core, but undervolts to 1.3v to reduce power usage and heat, the Kraken Elite 420 does even better, scoring an impressive 65c at full load, and obviously, the idle temperatures aren’t an issue either at just 25c. While a couple of degrees from the absolute top spot, there’s still no doubt this cooler is classed as very high-end, and should easily handle any enthusiast CPU with ease.
As for acoustics, it does great, but so it should, as with the larger 140mm fans being able to shift more air are a lower RPM than 120mm fans, they have a much nicer acoustic profile. At 41 dBA under load, it’s about average for a large cooler, but I wouldn’t in any way call it noisy. Optmised settings performed exactly the same, but if anything I think the PWM curve is perhaps a little bit on the eager side, and with such incredible cooling performance, you can comfortably set this to a silent profile if you don’t mind a few degrees more heat (really not a problem given the starting point), and it’ll be as quiet as a whisper.
