AMD Wraith Prism vs Max, What Is The Difference? Which Is Better?

At first glance, the Wraith Max and the AMD Wraith Prism look pretty much the same but look closer and you can see some differences.

AMD Wraith Prism is the new stock cooler that comes with the top of the line AMD Ryzen 2700X. While the cooler is not going to set any records for overclocking, it is better than previous Max and Spire coolers that we have already seen and way better than what you get out of the box from Intel. The RBG lighting is better than the previous generation versions and the fans are see-through as well so more light passes through.

At first glance, the Wraith Max and the AMD Wraith Prism look pretty much the same but look closer and you can see some differences. One of the cool features of the AMD Wraith Prism is that you get a button that allows you to control the fan speed. The fan runs at 2,750 rpm using the low setting and  3,650 rpm using the high setting. You can start hearing the fan at 700-800 rpm and the noise becomes distinct once you hit 1000 rpm.

Other than that the AMD Wraith Prism is also taller than the AMD Wraith Max by about 0.8 cm. While both have the same number of copper pipes the orientation is opposite of one another. This helps in cooling as the AMD Wraith Prism is much better at its job as compared to the AMD Wraith Max.

At 1000rpm the AMD Wraith Prism loses by a small margin with the AMD Wraith Max leading by 3.4 degrees at 62.2 degrees. Moving the fan speed up to 1500 rpm we see similar results with the Max pulling away a light bit. While the AMD Wraith Prism maintained 48.3 degrees the wraith max managed to run the CPU at 47.2. Moving on to 2000 rpm and we see the AMD Wraith Prism keeps the CPU at 43.3 degrees while the Max manages to run the CPU at 42.7.

At max fan speed, the Wraith Prism gains the lead and runs the CPU at 37.4 degrees while the MAx runs it at 38.3, which is a slight edge over the other. While you might think that the AMD Wraith Prism is just for show, these numbers show that the AMD Wraith Prism is not only good looking but functional as well.

AMD stock coolers are well made and pretty beefy. While you will need an aftermarket cooler in order to do some overclocking the AMD Wraith Prism will be just fine for stock frequencies and is way better than anything that Intel has to offer out of the box.

Let us know what you think about the Wraith Prism CPU cooler and whether or not this is something that you are interested in getting.

Sarmad is our Senior Editor, and is also one of the more refined and cultured among us. He's 25, a finance major, and having the time of his life writing about videogames.