Stefan Mileschin

NZXT has announced the expansion of its Kraken all-in-one liquid CPU cooler family with the addition of the X72 and M22 AIOs. The X72 is a 360mm AIO – a first of its size for NZXT, which should offer users better cooling than its smaller 240/280mm X Series brothers. Meanwhile the M Series AIOs are new to the Kraken line and are designed to be more affordable, but still offer many of the features in the X Series such as RGB LEDs and the infinite-mirror effects but at that lower price point.

Before the X72, NZXT’s largest AIO was the Kraken X62 sporting a 280mm radiator. NZXT has now gone a step farther to build a more powerful AIO that's able to cool the higher TDP processors that are out. To that end, the X72 boasts a 360mm radiator, a 50% increase in surface area over the 240mm model, able to better manage the thermals. The X72 also redesigned the pump, saying it is both quieter and offers a greater volumetric flow rate than previous generations (the X42/52/62 used the Asetek Gen 5 pump w/modifications – perhaps it is Gen 6?). Connecting the pump to the radiator is nylon-braided sleeved rubber tubing 400mm(~15.75-inches) long. The X72 does keep the cool looking RGB lighting and infinite-mirror effects on the pump.

As for the M22 AIO, NZXT notes that “One of the biggest requests from our community has been to deliver that same signature look at a lower price point." The M22 is built using the same materials found in the X Series and features the same advanced RGB lighting modes with customizable lighting and cooling control through NZXT’s CAM software – it will also sync with other NZXT Hue accessories. The price point is lower by dropping some of the extra features the X lineup has such as built-in fan control and liquid temperature monitoring. Users are able to utilize the PWM fan headers on the motherboard, NZXT fan controllers such as the Grid+ V3, or the Smart Device included in the H700i, H400i, or H200i cases. The CAM software will provide CPU temperature and pump speed information as well as other system-level data.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12511...ken-aio-lineup