CyberPower Liquid i7 Kraken review

The interior is dominated by a water-cooling rig that’s similar to the system used in CyberPower’s recent Infinity White Knight, with an XSPC reservoir occupying two 5.25in bays at the front of the machine, a radiator in the roof and numerous white coolant cables snaking between the CPU and graphics card. It’s an efficient system: the processor’s peak temperature of 66°C was impressive, and the graphics card’s 43°C was even better.

The smaller dimensions of the chassis, though, make the Kraken feel cramped. Two DIMM sockets are free, but they’re difficult to access behind a pair of cooling tubes, and you’ll have to dismantle most of the system to get to the single spare 5.25in bay. Thankfully, the four empty hard disk bays have tool-free cages and face the side of the chassis, so it’s easy to add more storage.

The motherboard offers mixed upgrade potential, too, with no second PCI-Express x16 slot and its five remaining slots – two PCI-Express x1 and three PCI – hampered by water-cooling tubes. We were pleased to see two SATA 3Gb/s ports perpendicular to the board, and there’s a free USB 3 jumper at the bottom, alongside a decent backplate selection that includes two USB 3 ports, eight USB 2 sockets, eSATA and FireWire.

It’s not the most upgradeable system we’ve seen, then, but CyberPower has still made it both tidy and extremely quiet. When idling we only heard a slight hum when we got up close and personal and, while the Kraken became a bit louder during our stress tests, it’s nothing that won’t be drowned out by games or movies.

The peripherals are decent. BenQ’s LED-backlit G2420HDBL monitor combines a 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution with even, accurate colours, and the slight grain visible across lighter areas doesn’t detract too much from the good quality. The Logitech MK300 wireless keyboard and mouse are similarly competent, with the former offering a responsive typing action as well as a row of media buttons, and the latter proving basic, but comfortable.

The Kraken isn’t as brash as previous CyberPower systems or some of its rivals, but that’s no bad thing: for a fair amount less than its predecessor, it blitzed almost every benchmark we threw at it. It’s not quite as affordable as Yoyotech’s Fi7epower 4.8, but the Kraken offers increased gaming power and superior peripherals; in our book that makes it a very good high-end deal.