Deepcool CPU Air Cooler Roundup: Playing it Too Safe?
by Dustin Sklavos on February 23, 2013 12:01 PM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Deepcool
Ease of Installation
In the process of working on this review, I posted to my work Facebook that I was understanding the reason for the increase in popularity of closed loop coolers, and it wasn't just the potential for superior cooling power. Closed loops take up a tremendous amount of space, certainly, but the way they occupy space can actually be much less cumbersome than having to somehow mount an enormous tower cooler to four tiny screw holes.
There's also, and I hope you'll forgive the rant, the entire cottage industry that's essentially sprung up around the complete inability of Intel (a corporation valued at over $80 billion and capable of producing cutting edge manufacturing and CPU technologies) to produce a heatsink mounting system that isn't absolutely godawful and destined to rot and fall out after a few years (yes, I've actually seen this happen). So instead of Intel fixing this atrocity that's persisted since the beginning of LGA 775, we deal with complex mounting systems from heatsink designers and case designers that have to basically punch out the back of the motherboard tray. Meanwhile, AMD owners get a good chuckle out of their far simpler (and still very effective) mounting clips. AMD's only failure on this front is the need to switch to an LGA; thermal paste left on over time can actually produce an adhesive effect so strong that you can rip the CPU out of the socket without lifting the locking lever.
.jpg)
Intel's adequate stock heatsink and utterly inadequate mounting system.
The reason I bring up this rant is because Deepcool employs two different mounting mechanisms for their coolers: one that's mostly workable and one that's awful. The awful one relies on pushpins, and that's the mechanism that the Gammaxx line employs. Mounting and testing the Gammaxx 300 actually meant mounting and testing it twice; the first time it appeared CPU contact was good, but upon removing the heatsink after testing, I noticed one of the pins was already broken and needed to be replaced with pins from the Gammaxx 200. The result was a clearly uneven contact between the heatsink and heatspreader, as evidenced by an obvious blank spot in the thermal grease.
.jpg)
Deepcool's other mounting system is much sturdier, but comes with its own set of problems. For this, they employ a backplate and screws that go up through the motherboard. On the motherboard, spacers are placed on the screws, and then mounting brackets are bolted into place. Deepcool unfortunately needed to make the screws themselves about a millimeter longer, as it would've made installing the backplate and mounting kit much easier. As it is, you have to apply a healthy amount of pressure to the backplate to get enough screw to mount the bolt. Hopefully the twelve-year-olds in the audience enjoyed that last sentence.
The problem is that the backplate is huge. It's nice and sturdy, but it's big enough that I had to remove the motherboard whenever I installed it or removed it. As for the bracket that screws into the mounting kit and holds the actual heatsink into place, I found that the heatsink fans often would get in the way. This also means that the squirrely fan clips, which were already troublesome enough outside of the case, get even more troublesome when you're dealing with case clearance. That's before the inevitable series of scratches you'll get from the heatsink fins themselves.
.jpg)
That's a lot of ranting, and admittedly a lot of these problems aren't Deepcool's fault but simply the nature of the beast. Squirrely fan mounts aren't just an issue for Deepcool, but they are something that can be corrected by an enterprising designer. Unfortunately, bloodthirsty heatsink fins are mostly unavoidable.
Of the heatsinks tested, only the Ice Blade v2.0 was problem free in installation. The Assassin is a massive hunk of aluminum and copper capable of supporting up to three fans; it includes two. There's a 120mm fan that's mounted on the outside and a 140mm fan which employs 120mm mounts (kind of neat in its own right), but unfortunately that 140mm fan has to get mounted between the two towers, directly above the mounting bracket. I've already mentioned the busted pushpin on the Gammaxx 300. Finally, the dual-tower, dual-fan Frostwin had to have its towers carefully pried apart just a little bit to prevent rattling.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
20 Comments
View All Comments
Voidman - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
I just have to congratulate you for using the word "ameliorating" in a review.coffeejunkee - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
Hmm, bit disappointed to be honest, with the review itself and with the coverage of these Deepcool coolers. I can understand leaving out some of the more similar coolers, but at least list full specs (especially min and max fan rpm) and the prices for them.Also, using a mITX board with different cpu socket placement and then complaining about the backplate not lining up with the motherboard tray cutout seems a bit silly. Furthermore, I don't understand why you don't use the chassis exhaust fan. Such a fan helps aircoolers a lot but you have to sacrifice it with many aio liquid coolers, thereby making the comparison unfair. Complaining about fanclips seems like exaggerating to me as well, never had a problem with them myself.
Including the stock cooler is nice, but this way it's pointless. All we know now is that it fails at 4.4 Ghz (big surprise) and it's below your db measurement floor at idle (yes, idle it's pretty quiet but wait till it spins up). So include some baseline results with the cpu running at stock too. And like others said, include Hyper 212+ or Evo too, even if CM doesn't send you one there really is no excuse for a leading tech site like Anandtech not to spend a measly 30$ on this very popular cooler.
For now sticking with xbit labs and spcr, have a look at their cooler reviews to see how it's done.
Beenthere - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
As with many Chinese products these DeepFool coolers can best be described technically as CRAP. They are OE suppliers only because their products are cheap, not because they are effective coolers. Like many OE suppliers, DeepFool wants to cash in on technically challenged retail consumers with inferior products. They reap far greated profits in retail than in wholesale sales.The clueless will buy some of these inferior coolers not knowing any better and that is what DeepFool is counting on. Most technically challenged consumers buy products based on looks, LED's, colors, review hype and price. Few enthusiasts are technically literate enough to actually understand accurate technical data vs. hype. The Assassin is the only DeepFool cooler that will sell on looks and it's really a poor cooler for the size as other review sites have confirmed.
Frosty Tech has an excellent database of all of the modern CPU coolers and their thermal efficiency based on proper scientific lab quality testing. Don't get fooled by half-arsed reviews done by websites who use an improper HSF testing methodology with many uncontrolled variables including CPU TDP. There are many poor review sites and few proper review sites for CPU coolers both air and water. If you understand proper testing methodology you'll understand why FT's database is so valuable.
In the interest of not encouraging companies to sell Chines CRAP, I'd suggest that consumers "Just say NO" to these garbage coolers.
Dustin Sklavos - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
I'm trying to figure out why we haven't banned you yet.JeBarr - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
If you think all Chinese products are junk then you are living in the past and regurgitating an old truth that mostly no longer applies. I won't comment on whether that applies to these particular coolers, but according to a handful of review sites might not be too far off.I would agree that Frostytech employs superiour testing methodology for HSF, but even there you don't see coolers tested in both horizontal and vertical orientation except for a few instances when the manufacturer claims the product is intended for one or the other, with the SilverStone Heligon being the most recent example I can recall. I've yet to find a site with both a large number of samples and comprehensive testing methods.
Your renaming of the company was nicely done though and put a smile on my face this morning :D
JeBarr - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
quote: "Tower coolers are pretty much the way to go these days if you're going to air cool your CPU"I must be one of the few remaining DIYers that find situations where the "down-draft" coolers are the way to go. Even when the motherboard is vertically mounted I find this can be true. Especially with budget cases lacking top and/or bottom vents. Traditional ATX chassis employs front and rear fans with at most an additional side fan or two.
I've found that mounting a side intake fan compliments the down-draft cooler especially if connected to CPU fan header. Of course, every situation is unique and I couldn't very well ask a reviewer to test every possible combination.....but I would like you, Dustin, to consider adding at least two or three down-draft samples in the future.
CeriseCogburn - Sunday, February 24, 2013 - link
I picked up a load of these Deepcool for Sandy Bridge /Ivy 1155 socket for a very good price - the lower end type one Theta 15 PWM, has a nice 100mm 4 pin pwm - a good plastic back plate with metal posts and the easy top screws.So for the price it was worth it just for the fans.
Also, last night I noticed these come in a Logisys branding - the color of the blue fan blades is a dead giveaway if you're looking around.
Ninhalem - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
I can understand if you want to go for a quieter system or if you don't have the money, but why is there a need for air cooling on the CPU block now when CLWC's (closed loop water cooler) are relatively cheap and perform better than air (the amount of heat that water can whisk away is much higher than air).CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 14, 2013 - link
I can OC a SB to 4.8 all day long on one of these cheap $7 theta's.WHY would anyone spend $50 or $100 on a water cooler, and try to JUSTIFY it ?
I don't care if you splurge out, but to claim you're doing yourself a favor and everyone else should go along is INSANE.
We have that kind of attitude, then when it comes to cpu's, we have the penny pinching AMD fanboys screeding about a few bucks, then slapping on a $100 water cool loop ?
What about the video card price whiners, which are in fact EVERYONE in all those articles - they WB&M up a crybaby storm, and next thing you know they drop $150 on a case, and another $125 on a water loop they do not even need at all... yet 2 minutes ago they raged out in corpo profit hatred about $20 more for an nVidia card...
If you want to splurge go ahead, have fun and do it. Just don't pretend it meets any bang for the buck, and DON'T EVER whine about any computer product for home building then in some bang for the buck bull session.
random2 - Monday, February 25, 2013 - link
I've read a large amount of technical writings over the years relating to PC building and repairs, and you are one of the very few people I have seen come forward and call out Intel on their cheap, hard to use and failure prone mounting system for their coolers.Intel if you're listening...it's time to get with the new millennium.