AM4 Platform 240mm AIO

[lFaust]

Hello there!

I'm currently planning out my Ryzen build and have pretty much settled on all of the parts, except for the cooler. I will most probably buy a 1700 and leave the stock Wraith RGB cooler on it until I can afford a 'proper' one, since the Wraith is supposedly not horrible (cough cough Intel). Now I had my eyes on the X52 from NZXT, but I've read a lot of customer reviews complaining about bad pumps and terrible return service. The thing is, it's pretty much the best fitting, design-wise. I'll be using Thermaltake Riing fans, so the lit up CPU-block would fit perfectly into that whole "ring theme". Also a nice bonus, the tubes are sleeved.

The thing is though, once I build my Ryzen system I will finally jump ship to Linux and CAM isn't available for it. And even though I also want to try out running Windows 10 in a VM for playing games, I have no clue whether or not the CAM-control will work that way (or glitch out when W10 isn't running). 

So I'm either looking for encouraging experiences from X52 owners or suggestions for AIOs that offer sleeved tubing, ideally a matte CPU block and no lights (or lights that you can disable) and also, ideally, no control software required.

I'm going to get an X370 Taichi which doesn't have a dedicated pump header, if that helps.

I hope someone out there can help me out, thanks!

[tom_w141]

8 minutes ago, lFaust said:

Now I had my eyes on the X52 from NZXT

I'm currently using an X52 with my 1700 it works great and has 7 year warranty.

 

CAM: The kraken will do whatever cam last told it to do so your windows settings should still apply regarding pump/fan speed.

 

Even if this is not the case you can control pump/fan speed directly from the BIOS anyway.

[lFaust]

3 minutes ago, tom_w141 said:

I'm currently using an X52 with my 1700 it works great and has 7 year warranty.

 

CAM: The kraken will do whatever cam last told it to do so your windows settings should still apply regarding pump/fan speed.

 

Even if this is not the case you can control pump/fan speed directly from the BIOS anyway.

Was the AM4 mounting hardware already included or did you have to order one from NZXT?

[tom_w141]

Just now, lFaust said:

Was the AM4 mounting hardware already included or did you have to order one from NZXT?

I had to order but they should be included with new purchases (I reused the kraken from another build)

[just_dave]

23 minutes ago, lFaust said:

Hello there!

I'm currently planning out my Ryzen build and have pretty much settled on all of the parts, except for the cooler. I will most probably buy a 1700 and leave the stock Wraith RGB cooler on it until I can afford a 'proper' one, since the Wraith is supposedly not horrible (cough cough Intel). Now I had my eyes on the X52 from NZXT, but I've read a lot of customer reviews complaining about bad pumps and terrible return service. The thing is, it's pretty much the best fitting, design-wise. I'll be using Thermaltake Riing fans, so the lit up CPU-block would fit perfectly into that whole "ring theme". Also a nice bonus, the tubes are sleeved.

The thing is though, once I build my Ryzen system I will finally jump ship to Linux and CAM isn't available for it. And even though I also want to try out running Windows 10 in a VM for playing games, I have no clue whether or not the CAM-control will work that way (or glitch out when W10 isn't running). 

So I'm either looking for encouraging experiences from X52 owners or suggestions for AIOs that offer sleeved tubing, ideally a matte CPU block and no lights (or lights that you can disable) and also, ideally, no control software required.

I'm going to get an X370 Taichi which doesn't have a dedicated pump header, if that helps.

I hope someone out there can help me out, thanks!

I would get the NZXT Kraken X52, it has fancy RGB pump, but go with different mobo, for similiar price you Crosshair VI Hero which i would say could be a bit better, it has superior VRM (unlike MSI).

[lFaust]

14 minutes ago, dave_k said:

I would get the NZXT Kraken X52, it has fancy RGB pump, but go with different mobo, for similiar price you Crosshair VI Hero which i would say could be a bit better, it has superior VRM (unlike MSI).

Yeah I've heard that MSI's VRMs are a joke (edit: on their X370 boards) :') The thing is though, I personally don't like how the Crosshair VI looks (even though I've always been a fan of ASUS's boards) - but maybe I should consider the Gigabyte Aorus X370 G5? In Level1Techs review of AsRocks board Wendell said that it was a good board for the price.. 

[tom_w141]

14 minutes ago, dave_k said:

I would get the NZXT Kraken X52, it has fancy RGB pump, but go with different mobo, for similiar price you Crosshair VI Hero which i would say could be a bit better, it has superior VRM (unlike MSI).

The Taichi and Crosshair are both excellent. I have the crosshair but I wouldn't tell anyone not to buy the Taichi. AsRock X370 Taichi is very good. MSI AM4 boards suck though yes.

[tom_w141]

1 minute ago, lFaust said:

Yeah I've heard that MSI's VRMs are a joke (edit: on their X370 boards) :') The thing is though, I personally don't like how the Crosshair VI looks (even though I've always been a fan of ASUS's boards) - but maybe I should consider the Gigabyte Aorus X370 G5? In Level1Techs review of AsRocks board Wendell said that it was a good board for the price.. 

Get the crosshair or the taichi. Those are the 2 best boards available at present.

[just_dave]

Just now, tom_w141 said:

The Taichi and Crosshair are both excellent. I have the crosshair but I wouldn't tell anyone not to buy the Taichi. AsRock X370 Taichi is very good. MSI AM4 boards suck though yes.

Which product of MSI doesn´t suck  <speaking of my experience with the piece of junk next to my right hand>

For me personally the Taichi looks pretty sheet

Also there is a Asus Strix X370-F, bit cheaper and very good VRM

 

[tom_w141]

1 minute ago, dave_k said:

Taichi looks pretty sheet

Appearance is subjective. Performance can be measured. These are the top 2 boards for performance at the moment.

[lFaust]

4 minutes ago, dave_k said:

Which product of MSI doesn´t suck  <speaking of my experience with the piece of junk next to my right hand>

For me personally the Taichi looks pretty sheet

Also there is a Asus Strix X370-F, bit cheaper and very good VRM

 

What can I say, it kinda grew on me ^^ Also, in a video about the whole VM stuff (also by Wendell) he had it working with the Taichi and the G5 because they had recieved the ?AGISA? microcode update that fixed the IOMMU groups and enabled GPU passthrough. I just want to be as sure as possible that it'll work.

[just_dave]

2 minutes ago, lFaust said:

What can I say, it kinda grew on me ^^ Also, in a video about the whole VM stuff (also by Wendell) he had it working with the Taichi and the G5 because they had recieved the ?AGISA? microcode update that fixed the IOMMU groups and enabled the GPU passthrough. I just want to be as sure as possible that it'll work.

Yeah AGESA updates help advance the AM4 boards even more.

Well i am poor, i will be changing my B350 Carbon for Strix B350F ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[lFaust]

2 minutes ago, dave_k said:

Yeah AGESA updates help advance the AM4 boards even more.

Well i am poor, i will be changing my B350 Carbon for Strix B350F ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I know the struggle, I'm still using a Pentium G3258 and a 1050. But I've been able to work some more recently so I can finally afford to upgrade ^^

[Mooshi]

9 hours ago, dave_k said:

I would get the NZXT Kraken X52, it has fancy RGB pump, but go with different mobo, for similiar price you Crosshair VI Hero which i would say could be a bit better, it has superior VRM (unlike MSI).

If you call a 55+ dollar difference "similar".

[just_dave]

8 hours ago, Mooshi said:

If you call a 55+ dollar difference "similar".

Well here in my country is the difference approx. $20, both of them are expensive as hell tho

[lFaust]

1 minute ago, dave_k said:

Well here in my country is the difference approx. $20, both of them are expensive as hell tho

Here in Germany prices fluctuate a lot between resellers - Caseking, my "main source" of PC components had the Crosshair for 245€ and the Taichi for 280€ (wtf). After looking around some, I ended up ordering at Mindfactory.de, which had the Taichi for 225€ (and the 1700 for 10€ less than elsewhere). I have no clue how their prices are so different...

[just_dave]

1 hour ago, lFaust said:

Here in Germany prices fluctuate a lot between resellers - Caseking, my "main source" of PC components had the Crosshair for 245€ and the Taichi for 280€ (wtf). After looking around some, I ended up ordering at Mindfactory.de, which had the Taichi for 225€ (and the 1700 for 10€ less than elsewhere). I have no clue how their prices are so different...

Well here you can get Taichi for 6400 Czk ($280) and Crosshair for 6900 Czk ($300) 

So yeah, everything is expensive as hell here.