With its solid plastic pump unit, attractively braided cables and thick tubes unlike those of any other cooler on test, these are fitted with anti-kink springs the build quality of the Kelvin T12 is great. As a Fractal Design product, it has a typically understated design, with no LEDs or bright colours.
The T12 is also one of only three coolers on test to feature standard water-cooling fittings (G 1/4in thread two-part brass fittings to be precise) and a refill port. As such, you can expand the loop to incorporate extra components. While it only a has a single 120mm radiator, Fractal claims the 46mm thickness means it will be able to handle one CPU and one GPU.
As well as a generous tube of thermal paste, two 120mm Silent Series HP fans are supplied. Like most coolers on test, these fans only feature PWM speed control, though, and they don’t include anti-vibration mounts or washers either.
Assembling the pump unit and mounting screws involves working with lots of pieces, but the process is easy and quick overall. The pump unit is screwed into an LGA2011 socket, stock AMD backplate or plastic LGA1150 backplate, which has pre-fitted nuts and sticky tape to keep it in place.
However, mounting the radiator is a frustrating process. For some reason, hexagonal screws are used, rather than regular Philips ones, and the supplied Allen key is small and fiddly we had to swap to a screwdriver with a hexagonal attachment.
The 120mm radiator is extra-tall at 163mm too, and installing it with the tubes entering at the bottom (as instructed) made it impossible to install a graphics card in the top PCI-E slot in our case, so check your clearance.
The delta T of 55°C on LGA1150 is respectable, given that the Kelvin coolers have the lowest noise output on test at full speed. It still isn’t quiet enough to run at full speed all the time, though, and using PWM made the T12 barely any quieter, although it was also no warmer – clearly, there’s headroom to limit the fan speeds even more.
Performance on LGA2011 isn’t so good though. The delta T of 60°C is on the warm side, as with many single 120mm radiators.
Conclusion
While there are better options for LGA2011 users, the Kelvin T12 still has a lot going for it on LGA1150 CPUs, including expandability, a good performance-to-noise ratio and outstanding build quality. However, the T12 costs more than the NZXT Kraken X41, which offers much better fan control and improved performance too. Or you could opt for the significantly cheaper H75, which is also a better cooler.
Plus, if you wanted to expand your loop in the future, the Raijintek Triton or Kelvin S24 are better suited with their bigger radiators, and the slip in performance on LGA2011 systems suggests that a high-end CPU and GPU combination will push the T12 to its limit.
VERDICT
A high-quality cooler with the added bonus of expandability, but it’s undermined by the better performance, features and value for money of its competitors.
Where to Buy
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