We're fully back into reviews with a ton of interesting stuff coming up! Here's the Deepcool Assassin IV! In the meantime, check out the big project that occupied us for a few weeks - our AMD Lab Tour full documentary: ua-cam.com/video/7H4eg2jOvVw/v-deo.html
I hope you guys will get around to lower height coolers. Some cases cannot fit a 155mm high cooler and liquid cooling isn't a realistic option. one cooler in particular has my interest. The ID-COOLING SE-207-XT Slim, it's only 135mm high and costs around $40 bucks.
Question! Would you be willing to measure noise at idle / light load and while assembled in a case? Esp. relevant to AIOs with their pumps, and to a lesser degree, due to their fans being less enclosed within a case. At idle / light load it's likely that the entire rest of the system is silent, the noise floor of the room is lower (e.g. nothing is playing through the speakers), and the user is not wearing headphones. While possibly still using the machine (e.g. reading something). At night the noise floor can get extremely low. In such conditions while the cooler noise itself is much lower, sensitivity to it is much higher, esp. when it takes whiney / rumbling / ratcheting tones. I believe this characteristic in practice can in fact make entire classes of products, such as AIOs for example, much less valuable to prospective unsuspecting users than currently measured data may suggest. Thanks!
I’m very excited for the new era of clean looking computer parts. I always built in a plain black tower with no glass because every graphics card looked like it was one of those pocketknives you get at the mall
Recently bought the Thermalright Peerless Assassin after watching your review to cool my 5800x3D and it's amazing even with the fans always set to 50% and is as quiet as nVidia when people ask them about crypto sales. Before i got that I was thinking of getting the Deepcool from one of your other videos but after researching online i found out there was a big issue with "humming" fans for a lot of users, which is sad because i like the design of these new Deepcool coolers a lot.
I'm glad you are giving so much attention to detail when it comes to noise caused by the fans. Sometimes it is a pain to try and find proper fans to cover that aspect, and Noctua definitely puts money on it.
I don't really like that you are pretty much stuck with the center fan, so if it gets noisy or you want to change it at some point you are out of luck.... Glad they cover details like that.
its nice to have quiet fans but i think noctua is overplaying the noise problem and leaving aside the performant part, they should make the fans able to reach 2600-3000rpm and let the user decide if they want/need quiet or performance, i myself have found out that sometimes you want quiet and on particular moments you want maximum performance, and 2000rpm is frankly very low speed for a top tier fan.
@@eX_Arkangel Performance is not measured in RPM, but in CFM and ultimately in the temperature results for your use case. And even leaving that aside, the key is to offer good performance to noise ratio and that requires effort. Noctua is good at doing that.
@@Lucius4992 performance is always tied up to rmp, no matter how much you develop the fan in the end if you want more CFM or air pressure you need more rmp, again, i said noctua is getting to caught up too much in noise reduction leaving performance aside, aparently you didnt read my comment completely, i didnt said make them louder i said give the user the option of silence or pure performance when is needed thats all. PD: doesnt matter what you say, high rmp fans will always outperform quiet slow ones, phanteks 140x30mm @3000rpm kills all noctua fans, if noctua just gave the option to run its fans at 2600-3000 and leave it to the user to choose the mode Quiet or performance thats all.
@eX_Arkangel I'm willing to bet that Noctua does plenty of testing their own products, and that the performance gains from higher RPMs isn't worth it. Certainly, given the excellence of their extended 6-year warranty, I don't blame them for not running their fans faster than is necessary.
Thermalright has an extra couple of models available now. Mainly the Frost Spirit and the Frost Commander on the "high" end. Hopefully you guys will take a look at those soon.
just ordered a Peerless Assassin SE, since the fan of my Macho Rev.B which i bought used like 5 years ago is dying. That thing has been taming a overclocked 2600K and then a 5800x. 25 Bucks for a new Noctua fan or 40 for a whole new top-end cooler, easy choice. will still buy a new fan for it and use it in my second system when i finished rebuilding the main one. Cant go wrong with Thermalright when you want bang for buck
@@erraldstylereven the cheap 3 pack of thermal right case fans are actually really good fans they move some air for sure. I need to get more of them lol.
@@JimJik In fact I got a Macho Rev B some 10 yrs ago and it was a banger. When building my next two builds, they were just gone. With having a 5800x3D now I looked for another cooler and there they arise again, much to their old glory ^^
@@blue-lu3iz that ain't doin much more than the PA, since Fin area is the same. However I went for the Phantom Spirit two have that little more ability to move heat away, even if the finstack as an ultimate limit has not been changed. But I hear the 8mm heatpipe options that the foreposter talks about are a bit different.
Having bought their AK620 I really like the design aesthetic that DeepCool is going for without sacrificing(much) performance. Very clean. I am really tempted to buy this as well but maybe wait for a version 2.
@@boots6384 I run 12900k on the AK620 + thermal plate, works surprisingly well. This one looks kinda nice but I don't see much benefit of upgrading from the 620.
Really tempted by this, it looks cool. My mATX case is a black cube too and it would be extremely funny if the CPU cooler inside was also a black cube! :D
I bought a Deep cool AK620 which seems to be part of the precursor series before this one. It is very similar in styling and features. I am very happy with it but mine does have the same annoying fan noise at high speeds. Honestly at the time I took a chance with buying Deepcool as they were still known as a budget brand but this cooler seemed to be ticking all the right boxes and I don't regret it. They have definetely put in the effort to transform their products and it shows. Give them a shot.
I got the Assassin-IV the day it was released to the USA market at standard MSRP. You guys missed a VERY IMPORTANT benefit of this cooler - that it offers performance on par or slightly better than the best Air Coolers on the market while also offering 100% tall RAM clearance because of the pull-pull design not having a fan hanging over the RAM slots in default configuration. Its kind of the entire point of the cooler - Otherwise they could have just slightly improved the design of the Assassin-III. The smaller thing you guys missed is that it is (subjectively) the best looking Air Cooler on the market. The fin stack shroud means this cooler has the cleanest Aesthetic of any Air Cooler to ever exist - as it is simply a giant black cube when looking at the system installed in a case - and they are coming out with a White version in a little while. This cooler vastly out-performs my 5-year old Noctua D-15 on my Ryzen 7800X-3D but that could be down to the D-15's age having been moved from a Ryzen 1700 to 3700X to 7800X-3D. Regardless, the Assassin-IV showed a temperature reduction of 3.5C at 100% fan speed and 5.0C with both coolers limited to 60% PWM (~1225-1250 RPM reported on the Assassin-IV). System Case fans were also limited to simulate a overall silence-optimized PC and both coolers used a FRESH application of Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut Paste since I just upgraded the PC from Ryzen 3700X to 7800X-3D a few weeks ago. This improvement combined with the removal of the front D-15 fan from obstructing my RAM slots so I can now see both RGB RAM modules is precisely why I purchased this cooler. Plus it looks insanely cool in my Lian Li LanCool 216 case sitting just above my Red Devil Radeon RX 7900-XTX.
show me graphics!!! better than the best aio coolers!!!!!! thats a bold statement!!!! makes no sense ! cheaper aio´s ill bet than ca be even better! but top aio´s ... thats a delusional mind!
@@swaize8866 Um what, I never said it was better than AIOs, I said its better than other Air Coolers - which it is. Steve just showed that in this review - watch it lol. Also its been common knowledge for a few years now that big powerful Air Coolers WILL beat some AIOs. Small, bad AIOs like 120mm and 140mm are worse than even some Single Tower air coolers. Good Air coolers like the Assassin-IV and Thermalright Peerless Assassin can even match some standard-thickness 240mm AIOs in default configuration (when the 240mm AIOs have 2 120mm fans pushing air only). Once you get into really good 240mm AIOs with thick radiators and good fans that can move a lot of air through them - then the AIOs start winning. 280mm and larger AIOs are always better unless they are a very bad design.
Great review as always! One thing to mention that is big for a lot of people is ram clearance and aesthetics. These are areas where this cooler excels. If not for ram clearance I would go with a Noctua d15 but this thing looks better and allows me to keep my rgb memory
I was about to say this exactly. The clearance and aesthetics seem to be completely overlooked here and I believe that's a big reason why this cooler is viable. It doesn't look like two metal towers with some fans wire tied to them.
When your Peerless Assassin review went live, I immediately bought one. I knew it was going to sell out. 100% satisfied, it's amazing. Can't believe it's so cheap and available. Thermalright is just the go to cooler brand now.
After your recommendation I have bought Thermalright's PA120 for my brother's build and it works very nice and was easy to install even for someone doing it the first time (with me on video call providing support). Would be cool if you look into more of their stuff, I am intrigued by their Frost Commander tower with one 120 and one 140, seems like more and more companies do this design
@@megadeth8592 Idk how accurate Hardware Canucks' testing is, they seem to get vastly different results in comparison to Gamer's Nexus. Even with the Deepcool Assassin IV Hardware Canucks said it was worse than the Assassin III, and yet Gamer's Nexus shows that it's better.
@@megadeth8592 Better on particular CPUs - some of the latest ones with strong heat density. Where the extra heat pipe of the FC doesn't add any cooling capacity because they end up not where the heat is.
Just got the thermalright peerless assassin for my recently purchased 5800x. Blows my old hyper212 evo away (actually not hitting thermal limits when gaming) & mounts so much better. Props to GN for the tireless work so my ol am4 can continue on for another few years.
Got 2 of these coolers. 1 is installed and working already, the other awaits installation. Never noticed any high pitched whines or anything. Main idea for their use is to take a 7800x3d, mount this tower on it, switch it to silent mode (more than enough cooling even in silent), and have a barely audible system. And it really is, even with an open case. Water cooling was not an option for several reasons, and this was the perfect solution.
It's getting impressive and creating real alternatives for all types of people with different tastes and priorities. I personally stick with Noctua for the noise profile even with a small difference in performance in some cases, so D15 for me, but let's see more of this!
I bought Thermalright's PA12 as a temporary cooler during my 7950X build. I used it during the build when testing the components outside the case. I even went as far as installing Windows. Once the MB was fitted inside the FD Torrent, it's an Arctric Freezer II 420 that's doing the cooling. And very well too. The Thermalright PA12 will get reused in the future for when I upgrade my 24x7 rig,. Presently that's got a Darkrock 3 cooling an i7 6900K running stock. The Thermalright PA12 ranks better here on GN than the Noctua NH-D15. nearly everyone else that tests the two have it the other way round. But I trust Gamers Nexus's rigorous testing more that most other sources. Also, Thermalright's AMD 7000 series Contact Frame is the nuts. Doesn't do anything for cooling, but it is the best solution that stops thermal paste getting down inside those stupid heatspreader notches and makes cleanup easy.
I’ve been waiting for a company to try ditching the front fan to avoid any ram clearance issue and see how the airflow works out with pull fans. Glad to see it still cools well. Hope more options like this come to market.
A lot of existing coolers support this option (though I can't think of any that were designed with that in mind from the factory I suppose). The NH-D15 is one of them and it can help with RAM clearance issues (could use a 120mm if the VRM heatsinks are too tall but many MBs will fit the 140 there). You can also get the NH-D15s and add a 120mm fan to the outside pulling through instead of the RAM side and get the same effect.
Deep Cool has really stepped up their game over the years. It's nice to have another serious contender on the market. I switched from Corsair AIOs to Deep Cool and I have no regrets.
While there are other air cooler options for a cheaper price, you can't deny that this cooler looks clean af, that pull pull setup just makes it looks SOOOO CLEAN. I'd imagine if budget isn't the problem this would be the most ideal option among others.
Speaking of Deepcool, I think a lot of us would appreciate if you tested their more recent AIO's, specifically the LT520/LT720 and the LS520/LS720 variations that use their latest pumps. They're competitively priced AIO's with pretty unique aesthetics to boot. Thanks!
Yeah other reviews have DeepCool AIO's such as the LT720 rated as the best or at least as good as the best AIO's available yet Gamers Nexus aren't interested for some odd reason...
I recently replaced my Assassin III with the LT720, and I think it's great! I'd love to see GN review it, as well! Edited to add that I did replace the stock fans on the LT720 with Phanteks T30s, so I can't speak to the performance of the DeepCool fans, but very happy with all else!
Noctua is nice because it sounds great. Every premium cooler should take noise into consideration. It's not about being loud, it's about sounding nice when moving air.
For the middle fan replacement: there are fans for example from Scythe, that are rounded. The "Kaze Flex Round" series. But fans in this shape are more a niche and harder to find.
Scythe has a fan called "SCYTHE Kaze Flex 140mm Round Frame" that has a 120mm mount, it could probably replace the middle fan and it could also be mounted for the included 120mm Fan adapter
I bought a be quiet cooler almost identical. It was the best looking one I could find 3 years ago and I still overclock. This is by far the best looking cooler I've seen. And its looks does count.
The fan whine is what kills this cooler honestly. If you don't mind paying a hundred dollarinos for an air cooler then why not spending it on an NH-D15 with no whine.
Yea wtf are u talking about. There’s no whine at all. Also, noctua has publicly stated, (in a gamernexus video) that they’re working on that high pitched noise some Noctua fans make. Ur either a noctua employee, fanboy, or just a clown. Maybe all 3, who knows, who cares.
i wish this was around when i built a new pc 5 months ago. i would picked this over my current noctua d15. i just the love the aesthetic. and its cheaper, performs just as well.
Appreciate this video! I just got myself the DeepCool AK500 last week for my new 13600K and absolutely love it! This thing is massive coming from a stock Intel cooler on my older 9400F CPU, lol.
I know what I will use to replace my DeepCool 240mm AIO when it kicks the bucket or warranty ends, air cooler of course. Looks like they are getting better and better
I'd love to see how this measures up against Thermalright's Phantom Spirit 120 SE and Frost Commander 140 dual towers. The Phantom Spirit is supposedly better than the Peerless Assassin, and the Frost Commander has 140mm fans which may help with VRM thermals.
If Deepcool can refine the design to accept something like Noctua fan (or just sell the fan), this is a very nice looking cooler. Personally I would wish for some RGB too, but this one really gives off professional vibes.
Would like to start seeing the Noctua U12A being used in testing (Noctua claims it's as effective as the NH-D15). Note that not the U12S, which has a couple less pipes.
I appreciate any effort to not use Philips head screws so personally I’m a fan of the hex head screws or really anything to end the tyranny of Philips head driven anything. :) Thank you for the excellent video and review!
@@Robbie-mw5uu I admit it’s odd. I think I was a bit scarred trying to remove some Philips deck screws that stripped. That experience might have skewed my perspective. :)
Yep - I got the Peerless 120 (dual fan-dual tower) in anticipation of a 5800x3d, then setteld for a 5600x instead....I cannot get the CPU any hotter than about 40c, no matter what I throw at it.
FWTW my experience with ordering parts from Deepcool has been excellent. I needed a second extension to be able to route the fan cables for one of their AIOs in a Phanteks Shift XT case the way I wanted to to make it look neat. They didn't list that cable on their parts site, but I sent an email and figured the answer would be a no if I would be lucky enough to even receive a reply. I was surprised, they wrote back right away that they were trying to figure how to get one to be able to sell me and to stand by a day or two. Sure enough a day later they sent a paypal invoice second ext cable including shipping for less than I paid for coffee this morning at starbucks. It took a couple extra days as it had to come from their factory in china if recall, but I was impressed by their customer service team trying to find away to take care of a customer. based on my experience I'd bet that even if they don't list the fan on their site they would happily sell a customer another fan it it fails even if its out of warranty as long as the fan it was still in production and available to them.
The fan whine is unfortunately not uncommon in DeepCool fans. I've bought 2 of their products (a cheap air cooler and an 240mm AIO) and both of them had the same issue.
Yep, my old Coolermaster Hyper 212 is over 13 years old and still runs perfectly to this day with the original fan, which is not something that I would expect many AIOs to be capable of.
My am3+ systen ive owned since 2016 still has the same aio i bought back then. Its starting to bubble a little bit but overall never had any problems with it. I went air cooling tho with my new build since the 7800x3d doesn't need a aio
Did you happen to test on 12th or 13th Gen i9 chips? I have a 12900k with the TG contact frame. The only thing that has been able to tame it is the Arctic Liquid freezer 420mm AIO. I have more in my case and cooling than is worth the performance. It’s been incredibly frustrating to own a cpu that out of the gate can’t reach its full potential without spending a crap ton of $$. I prefer the simplicity of air coolers and the DC620 did pretty well and I’d probably be OK with that as a solution as I’m not running R23 all day. Anyway, I love new tech and wanted to know if you all did any testing on some i9s. That would really let everyone know what this cooler can do. Thanks for your hard work Cheers Rick
"So you get a seven dollar ILM replacement kit with the cheaper cooler the thermal benefit starts to evaporate on this much more expensive option." Maybe this was addressed, but what if you get a contact frame and this cooler? Would that lead to further improvement or is there a perfomance ceiling regarding how much heat an air cooler can get rid of? Also, I'd love to see a review of the new Cooler Master MA824.
I'm not a fan of air coolers but if I were to buy one I would definitely allow myself to be overcharged for something I like the look of and I love how this cooler looks. I think they've done an amazing job at making something that looks stunning. I love it and thank you for such an in-depth review.
I build all the CAD workstations and office PC's where I work. For anything with an i5 or i7 I had been using Cooler Master Hyper 212 (all the different models) but the price on the old reliable cooler had been going up not down and is usually around $60 CAD ($45 USD) However when 11th Gen and then Alder lake hit the scene on the high machines I was using DeepCool Assassin III because it was so much cheaper than the next competitor here in Canada at $99 ($75 USD). Then the AK400 came in at $29 CAD less than half of the CM 212, and the AK620 was only $60 CAD! it is incredible value (a third of the price of the comparable Noctua) the ease of installation also saves more in technician time. We have switched to using DeepCool for the foreseeable future.
Concerning the fan noise segment of the video, as an owner of multiple Noctua coolers and fan models, I can definitely confirm that it is true. Their fans never make any weird rattling, bearing grind, whine or other annoying noises. All you hear is wind noise. I really hope that a potential😮 change in management staff in the future doesn't affect Noctua's commitment to build the best products with a very high level of attention to detail and awesome engineering. I don't mind paying the higher price usually tied to Noctua products because I've been a customer with them long enough to know that I'll get an amazing product from a company that loves what they do and have an amazing customer support if you have any issues and for future sockets for their coolers. Noctua is one of the computer products companies that I have the highest level of respect for.
Hardware Canucks noticed (probably) the same "whine" you encountered. They contacted DeepCool about it, and were told there were some defective units in the early run. DeepCool sent another unit to Hardware Canucks, and that unit didn't have the "whine" issue.
I belive noctua has a 140mm redux fan with 120mm mounts, their upcoming next gen 140mm fan also seems to be 140x140mm (a15 is 140x150mm) could work as replacements.
I knew there will be a cooler video soon when I opened a Cooler reviews playlist earlier today and it said it's "updated today" but there was no new video there and one was hidden 😁
18:06 'we're ready for thermal paste' *shot cuts to cooler placement* Love it, no more - You did it wrong bro!?!?!, X vs 5 dots, vs blob vs schmear. Bypassed onto actual video topic. NICE 👍👍👍
I've been using Noctua for 15+ years, I haven't found anything yet that will make me switch. My latest build is an Intel Xeon W7-2495X with Noctua NH-U14S-4677 and it cools awesome.
I'm a little late to the party, but despite not being in the market anymore with a recent upgrade, I still find these reviews immensely insightful. What does on in the industry can often be seen in these more small details.
I believe it was hardware Canucks review that mentioned their unit was unusually noisy. Turned out the unit was from a defective preproduction batch that was sent to some reviewers mistakenly. They then requested another be sent from what customers would receive (and through those channels) and the problem was absent from that unit.
I did a test for a German test site and didn't watch this video before but I'm pretty much coming to a very similar solution. Yeah, it is a strong cooler with a unique look. No, it's not really offering that much more performance than DeepCool's own more affordable AK620, which is a bit more pleasant to listen to as well. For the three fan test I used a DeepCool FK120 (which can be bought seperately but I took the one from the AK620), which is pretty similar to the FC120 found on the AK400. I came to the same 1.5 - 2°C advantage with the additional fan. I didn't like the hex head of the screws either and even accidentally killed one of the heads trying to mount the FK120. Regular headed fan screws would have been better indeed and luckily most fans you buy actually come with screws you can use here unless you just grab "some random fan from the drawer", which is unlikely when buying such a rather expensive air cooler. The Assassin IV (just like the AK620) is pretty easy to mount as well - that's really rather similar to Noctua coolers, which is good. I have to say I really like the recent DeepCool stuff and their overall quality seems to have improved quite a bit when compared to some of their parts from like 5+ years ago.
I used to be a fan (pun) of oversized tower coolers, back when motherboards were green ugly eyesores that you wanted to hide, liquid cooling was in its infancy and a huge risk of leaking. Havent used one in a decade now and never miss it.
There's no denying that the Deepcool Assassin IV is one clean good looking cooler but and open fin design cooler vs a boxed up fin will always be more efficient at dissipating heat. I have my Montech Metal DT24 Premium only using the center fan for symmetry-look with the other 120 fan installed as a top intake case fan (Fractal North case) blowing directly onto the DT24. The top mounted intake case fan also aids to cool the VRMs. The top front 140mm case fan is also lined up to blow air straight to the cooler through a 4" diameter 140mm duct installed behind the fan for a more directed higher velocity air flow.
It's important to highlight the kind of noise that gets put out. A lot of people that look at the NF A12 for example (in scrutiny) don't realize that its not just the low noise it puts out, but the type of noise it is. I won't say one fan's noise profile is better than another, but its clear Noctua placed very deep thought into the A12x25. When you look at the total package: noise type, decibel output, turbulence, or low RPM production... the A12 is great at all aspects. No longer "The Best", to people who look at raw data.
We're fully back into reviews with a ton of interesting stuff coming up! Here's the Deepcool Assassin IV! In the meantime, check out the big project that occupied us for a few weeks - our AMD Lab Tour full documentary: ua-cam.com/video/7H4eg2jOvVw/v-deo.html
first I learned english watching GN videos and now I understand enough of it for even learning something about computer hardware. What a blast!!
On the first chart - DCA IV on quiet is exactly the same temp as the NH-D15 at full speed, but at only 37.5db vs the Noctua's 43.9db. That's AWESOME!
I hope you guys will get around to lower height coolers. Some cases cannot fit a 155mm high cooler and liquid cooling isn't a realistic option. one cooler in particular has my interest.
The ID-COOLING SE-207-XT Slim, it's only 135mm high and costs around $40 bucks.
Question! Would you be willing to measure noise at idle / light load and while assembled in a case? Esp. relevant to AIOs with their pumps, and to a lesser degree, due to their fans being less enclosed within a case.
At idle / light load it's likely that the entire rest of the system is silent, the noise floor of the room is lower (e.g. nothing is playing through the speakers), and the user is not wearing headphones. While possibly still using the machine (e.g. reading something). At night the noise floor can get extremely low. In such conditions while the cooler noise itself is much lower, sensitivity to it is much higher, esp. when it takes whiney / rumbling / ratcheting tones. I believe this characteristic in practice can in fact make entire classes of products, such as AIOs for example, much less valuable to prospective unsuspecting users than currently measured data may suggest.
Thanks!
Can you review the Alpenföhn Brocken 4 max aswell? Would be awesome!
That second angle camera is a great addition. Your production quality is now being raised to the level of attention you review your hardware.
Seconding this, gn has always been a step above but they continue to impress
Glazer
I’m very excited for the new era of clean looking computer parts. I always built in a plain black tower with no glass because every graphics card looked like it was one of those pocketknives you get at the mall
Recently bought the Thermalright Peerless Assassin after watching your review to cool my 5800x3D and it's amazing even with the fans always set to 50% and is as quiet as nVidia when people ask them about crypto sales. Before i got that I was thinking of getting the Deepcool from one of your other videos but after researching online i found out there was a big issue with "humming" fans for a lot of users, which is sad because i like the design of these new Deepcool coolers a lot.
ahahahaha love the analogy !
I'm glad you are giving so much attention to detail when it comes to noise caused by the fans. Sometimes it is a pain to try and find proper fans to cover that aspect, and Noctua definitely puts money on it.
I don't really like that you are pretty much stuck with the center fan, so if it gets noisy or you want to change it at some point you are out of luck....
Glad they cover details like that.
its nice to have quiet fans but i think noctua is overplaying the noise problem and leaving aside the performant part, they should make the fans able to reach 2600-3000rpm and let the user decide if they want/need quiet or performance, i myself have found out that sometimes you want quiet and on particular moments you want maximum performance, and 2000rpm is frankly very low speed for a top tier fan.
@@eX_Arkangel Performance is not measured in RPM, but in CFM and ultimately in the temperature results for your use case. And even leaving that aside, the key is to offer good performance to noise ratio and that requires effort. Noctua is good at doing that.
@@Lucius4992 performance is always tied up to rmp, no matter how much you develop the fan in the end if you want more CFM or air pressure you need more rmp, again, i said noctua is getting to caught up too much in noise reduction leaving performance aside, aparently you didnt read my comment completely, i didnt said make them louder i said give the user the option of silence or pure performance when is needed thats all.
PD: doesnt matter what you say, high rmp fans will always outperform quiet slow ones, phanteks 140x30mm @3000rpm kills all noctua fans, if noctua just gave the option to run its fans at 2600-3000 and leave it to the user to choose the mode Quiet or performance thats all.
@eX_Arkangel I'm willing to bet that Noctua does plenty of testing their own products, and that the performance gains from higher RPMs isn't worth it. Certainly, given the excellence of their extended 6-year warranty, I don't blame them for not running their fans faster than is necessary.
Thermalright has an extra couple of models available now. Mainly the Frost Spirit and the Frost Commander on the "high" end. Hopefully you guys will take a look at those soon.
just ordered a Peerless Assassin SE, since the fan of my Macho Rev.B which i bought used like 5 years ago is dying. That thing has been taming a overclocked 2600K and then a 5800x. 25 Bucks for a new Noctua fan or 40 for a whole new top-end cooler, easy choice. will still buy a new fan for it and use it in my second system when i finished rebuilding the main one. Cant go wrong with Thermalright when you want bang for buck
god bless thermalright
@@erraldstylereven the cheap 3 pack of thermal right case fans are actually really good fans they move some air for sure. I need to get more of them lol.
@@JimJik In fact I got a Macho Rev B some 10 yrs ago and it was a banger. When building my next two builds, they were just gone. With having a 5800x3D now I looked for another cooler and there they arise again, much to their old glory ^^
@@blue-lu3iz that ain't doin much more than the PA, since Fin area is the same. However I went for the Phantom Spirit two have that little more ability to move heat away, even if the finstack as an ultimate limit has not been changed. But I hear the 8mm heatpipe options that the foreposter talks about are a bit different.
"People tend to not like whiny types of noises coming out of fans..." Are we still talking about air cooling solutions here?
I felt personally attacked 😂
Another thing GN, this cooler will never give you problems with ram clearance due to the fan setup. That's a nice benefit.
iirc that was the main selling point of this cooler, it is unique and won't give you issues with ram clearance no matter what.
Assassin is such a "cool" name, nobody would buy Deepcool Nerd IV.
What about the Deepgeek Nerd Pi?
I would!
Lol. I would.
Or Deepcool Hobo IV
@@justuseodysee7348 DeepHomo
Having bought their AK620 I really like the design aesthetic that DeepCool is going for without sacrificing(much) performance. Very clean. I am really tempted to buy this as well but maybe wait for a version 2.
I am pretty happy with the AK620, like it for the long term perspective as we can replace the 120mm fans anytime when u have to
@@boots6384 I run 12900k on the AK620 + thermal plate, works surprisingly well. This one looks kinda nice but I don't see much benefit of upgrading from the 620.
@@snap_oversteer I'd replace the ILM first.
I'm glad you brought this up because I just added the AK620 about a month ago and now I'm curious about this... hmm
@@tyrantworm7392 Yeah I meant I run the thermalright contact frame ILM replacement, worded it a bit wrong.
Really tempted by this, it looks cool. My mATX case is a black cube too and it would be extremely funny if the CPU cooler inside was also a black cube! :D
Would have liked to see the Noctua U12A on the charts also
The clean aesthetic alone looks worth the price if it's going into a minimalist-styled build that is meant to be shown off to some degree.
I bought a Deep cool AK620 which seems to be part of the precursor series before this one. It is very similar in styling and features. I am very happy with it but mine does have the same annoying fan noise at high speeds.
Honestly at the time I took a chance with buying Deepcool as they were still known as a budget brand but this cooler seemed to be ticking all the right boxes and I don't regret it. They have definetely put in the effort to transform their products and it shows. Give them a shot.
Can you tell your CPU Setup please?
I got the Assassin-IV the day it was released to the USA market at standard MSRP.
You guys missed a VERY IMPORTANT benefit of this cooler - that it offers performance on par or slightly better than the best Air Coolers on the market while also offering 100% tall RAM clearance because of the pull-pull design not having a fan hanging over the RAM slots in default configuration. Its kind of the entire point of the cooler - Otherwise they could have just slightly improved the design of the Assassin-III.
The smaller thing you guys missed is that it is (subjectively) the best looking Air Cooler on the market. The fin stack shroud means this cooler has the cleanest Aesthetic of any Air Cooler to ever exist - as it is simply a giant black cube when looking at the system installed in a case - and they are coming out with a White version in a little while.
This cooler vastly out-performs my 5-year old Noctua D-15 on my Ryzen 7800X-3D but that could be down to the D-15's age having been moved from a Ryzen 1700 to 3700X to 7800X-3D. Regardless, the Assassin-IV showed a temperature reduction of 3.5C at 100% fan speed and 5.0C with both coolers limited to 60% PWM (~1225-1250 RPM reported on the Assassin-IV). System Case fans were also limited to simulate a overall silence-optimized PC and both coolers used a FRESH application of Thermal Grizzly's Kryonaut Paste since I just upgraded the PC from Ryzen 3700X to 7800X-3D a few weeks ago.
This improvement combined with the removal of the front D-15 fan from obstructing my RAM slots so I can now see both RGB RAM modules is precisely why I purchased this cooler. Plus it looks insanely cool in my Lian Li LanCool 216 case sitting just above my Red Devil Radeon RX 7900-XTX.
Also good for people who loves RGB on a RAM. This cooler doesn't block the view :)
show me graphics!!! better than the best aio coolers!!!!!! thats a bold statement!!!! makes no sense ! cheaper aio´s ill bet than ca be even better! but top aio´s ... thats a delusional mind!
@@swaize8866 Um what, I never said it was better than AIOs, I said its better than other Air Coolers - which it is. Steve just showed that in this review - watch it lol.
Also its been common knowledge for a few years now that big powerful Air Coolers WILL beat some AIOs. Small, bad AIOs like 120mm and 140mm are worse than even some Single Tower air coolers. Good Air coolers like the Assassin-IV and Thermalright Peerless Assassin can even match some standard-thickness 240mm AIOs in default configuration (when the 240mm AIOs have 2 120mm fans pushing air only).
Once you get into really good 240mm AIOs with thick radiators and good fans that can move a lot of air through them - then the AIOs start winning. 280mm and larger AIOs are always better unless they are a very bad design.
The PA120SE has really impressed me. Upgraded from a Noctua NH-U12S. The performance to price ratio is ridiculously good 👍
After watching this, I regret buying my NH-U12A.
I bought a PA120 for £35 and I am very pleased with it.
just ordered one as replacement for the dying fan on my Macho rev.b ;)
it's just sad there's still people who refuse to believe the noctua sucks nowdays in both value and performance
Yeah, using it on my 5800x3D and its the reason I dont have to undervolt it :)
Great review as always! One thing to mention that is big for a lot of people is ram clearance and aesthetics. These are areas where this cooler excels. If not for ram clearance I would go with a Noctua d15 but this thing looks better and allows me to keep my rgb memory
I was about to say this exactly. The clearance and aesthetics seem to be completely overlooked here and I believe that's a big reason why this cooler is viable. It doesn't look like two metal towers with some fans wire tied to them.
When your Peerless Assassin review went live, I immediately bought one. I knew it was going to sell out. 100% satisfied, it's amazing. Can't believe it's so cheap and available. Thermalright is just the go to cooler brand now.
After your recommendation I have bought Thermalright's PA120 for my brother's build and it works very nice and was easy to install even for someone doing it the first time (with me on video call providing support). Would be cool if you look into more of their stuff, I am intrigued by their Frost Commander tower with one 120 and one 140, seems like more and more companies do this design
Frost spirit is better than the commander. Hardware Canucks did a comparison between the 2
@@megadeth8592 Idk how accurate Hardware Canucks' testing is, they seem to get vastly different results in comparison to Gamer's Nexus.
Even with the Deepcool Assassin IV Hardware Canucks said it was worse than the Assassin III, and yet Gamer's Nexus shows that it's better.
@@megadeth8592 Better on particular CPUs - some of the latest ones with strong heat density. Where the extra heat pipe of the FC doesn't add any cooling capacity because they end up not where the heat is.
@@ThomasD66that's why the frost spirit is so good. It's heat pipes are better positioned
@@spiritdancer6745they're the only ones who had issues with it.. If you're OK with buzzing tho have at it.
Just got the thermalright peerless assassin for my recently purchased 5800x. Blows my old hyper212 evo away (actually not hitting thermal limits when gaming) & mounts so much better.
Props to GN for the tireless work so my ol am4 can continue on for another few years.
WoW. It even beats the NH-D15? Deepcool has come to play!
I'm interested to see how Noctua's new fans and refreshed heatsinks will compete
The D-15 was king for so many years though. Still has appeal from the excellent support from Noctua.
Check the noctua NH P1 prototype cooler I have 2 of them. It's a fanless cooler
I’m more impressed with the Peerless Assassin! Only $33 and trading blows with the big dog $100+ coolers.
Got 2 of these coolers. 1 is installed and working already, the other awaits installation. Never noticed any high pitched whines or anything. Main idea for their use is to take a 7800x3d, mount this tower on it, switch it to silent mode (more than enough cooling even in silent), and have a barely audible system. And it really is, even with an open case. Water cooling was not an option for several reasons, and this was the perfect solution.
Hope TR frost spirit 140 get more recognition, that thing such a beast just for $55
It's getting impressive and creating real alternatives for all types of people with different tastes and priorities. I personally stick with Noctua for the noise profile even with a small difference in performance in some cases, so D15 for me, but let's see more of this!
Thanks for covering this CPU cooler. Was waiting for your review.
Got say I really like seeing Deepcool around. I've been using their stuff for a while now and I've always thought it was underappreciated.
I bought Thermalright's PA12 as a temporary cooler during my 7950X build. I used it during the build when testing the components outside the case. I even went as far as installing Windows.
Once the MB was fitted inside the FD Torrent, it's an Arctric Freezer II 420 that's doing the cooling. And very well too.
The Thermalright PA12 will get reused in the future for when I upgrade my 24x7 rig,. Presently that's got a Darkrock 3 cooling an i7 6900K running stock.
The Thermalright PA12 ranks better here on GN than the Noctua NH-D15. nearly everyone else that tests the two have it the other way round. But I trust Gamers Nexus's rigorous testing more that most other sources.
Also, Thermalright's AMD 7000 series Contact Frame is the nuts. Doesn't do anything for cooling, but it is the best solution that stops thermal paste getting down inside those stupid heatspreader notches and makes cleanup easy.
I’ve been waiting for a company to try ditching the front fan to avoid any ram clearance issue and see how the airflow works out with pull fans. Glad to see it still cools well. Hope more options like this come to market.
A lot of existing coolers support this option (though I can't think of any that were designed with that in mind from the factory I suppose). The NH-D15 is one of them and it can help with RAM clearance issues (could use a 120mm if the VRM heatsinks are too tall but many MBs will fit the 140 there). You can also get the NH-D15s and add a 120mm fan to the outside pulling through instead of the RAM side and get the same effect.
Deep Cool has really stepped up their game over the years. It's nice to have another serious contender on the market. I switched from Corsair AIOs to Deep Cool and I have no regrets.
I got the baby brother of this- AK 620, and it's been great! This video is just showing... a LOT of proprietary over-engineering...
While there are other air cooler options for a cheaper price, you can't deny that this cooler looks clean af, that pull pull setup just makes it looks SOOOO CLEAN. I'd imagine if budget isn't the problem this would be the most ideal option among others.
Would love for you guys to have a look at iD Cooling. Affordable and the performance is quite good.
Speaking of Deepcool, I think a lot of us would appreciate if you tested their more recent AIO's, specifically the LT520/LT720 and the LS520/LS720 variations that use their latest pumps. They're competitively priced AIO's with pretty unique aesthetics to boot. Thanks!
Yeah other reviews have DeepCool AIO's such as the LT720 rated as the best or at least as good as the best AIO's available yet Gamers Nexus aren't interested for some odd reason...
I recently replaced my Assassin III with the LT720, and I think it's great! I'd love to see GN review it, as well!
Edited to add that I did replace the stock fans on the LT720 with Phanteks T30s, so I can't speak to the performance of the DeepCool fans, but very happy with all else!
@@LiamDonoma The DeepCool fans that come with the device are actually really good.
Noctua is nice because it sounds great. Every premium cooler should take noise into consideration. It's not about being loud, it's about sounding nice when moving air.
For the middle fan replacement: there are fans for example from Scythe, that are rounded. The "Kaze Flex Round" series. But fans in this shape are more a niche and harder to find.
I love the cooler advancements were still getting. Concave the fins so there’s distance from the dead zone in the fan? Genius
At least it doesn't need Jensen Huang to be the sound effect.
WOOSH!
As someone who is particularly sensitive to noise, I really appreciate this enhanced focus. TY.
Scythe has a fan called "SCYTHE Kaze Flex 140mm Round Frame" that has a 120mm mount, it could probably replace the middle fan and it could also be mounted for the included 120mm Fan adapter
I bought a be quiet cooler almost identical. It was the best looking one I could find 3 years ago and I still overclock. This is by far the best looking cooler I've seen. And its looks does count.
The fan whine is what kills this cooler honestly. If you don't mind paying a hundred dollarinos for an air cooler then why not spending it on an NH-D15 with no whine.
They don't have white
Yea wtf are u talking about. There’s no whine at all. Also, noctua has publicly stated, (in a gamernexus video) that they’re working on that high pitched noise some Noctua fans make. Ur either a noctua employee, fanboy, or just a clown. Maybe all 3, who knows, who cares.
i wish this was around when i built a new pc 5 months ago. i would picked this over my current noctua d15. i just the love the aesthetic. and its cheaper, performs just as well.
This is a great review of the peerless assassin
Appreciate this video! I just got myself the DeepCool AK500 last week for my new 13600K and absolutely love it! This thing is massive coming from a stock Intel cooler on my older 9400F CPU, lol.
We're gonna need a bigger cooler.
Got the thermalright peerless assassin 120 se a month ago and im still watching cooler reviews😂
I know what I will use to replace my DeepCool 240mm AIO when it kicks the bucket or warranty ends, air cooler of course. Looks like they are getting better and better
Glad to see my ancient Noctua still doing well.
I'd love to see how this measures up against Thermalright's Phantom Spirit 120 SE and Frost Commander 140 dual towers. The Phantom Spirit is supposedly better than the Peerless Assassin, and the Frost Commander has 140mm fans which may help with VRM thermals.
Nice to see that you actually took the criticisms from last time to heart with regard to frequency analysis.
If Deepcool can refine the design to accept something like Noctua fan (or just sell the fan), this is a very nice looking cooler.
Personally I would wish for some RGB too, but this one really gives off professional vibes.
Would like to start seeing the Noctua U12A being used in testing (Noctua claims it's as effective as the NH-D15). Note that not the U12S, which has a couple less pipes.
I appreciate any effort to not use Philips head screws so personally I’m a fan of the hex head screws or really anything to end the tyranny of Philips head driven anything. :)
Thank you for the excellent video and review!
imagine being against a popular tool being widely used
@@Robbie-mw5uu I admit it’s odd. I think I was a bit scarred trying to remove some Philips deck screws that stripped. That experience might have skewed my perspective. :)
I love the look of this. If I hadn't just bought a Peerless Assassin a month ago I'd probably grab this.
Impressive work from Deepcool, but the Peerless Assassin for $35 was too good of a value.
Yep - I got the Peerless 120 (dual fan-dual tower) in anticipation of a 5800x3d, then setteld for a 5600x instead....I cannot get the CPU any hotter than about 40c, no matter what I throw at it.
did the same lmaoo got it for 33$ cant beat that!
Bought mine used for 20. Amazing value!
@@yissnakklives8866 That's pretty overkill considering the 5600/x gets by just fine with the stock cooler(and most builds would recommend it)
@@Boostmeister69 30$ is worth it just to have a silent ambient, AMD stock cooler makes too much noise when in full load.
Why isn't there any Be Quiet in the list?
FWTW my experience with ordering parts from Deepcool has been excellent. I needed a second extension to be able to route the fan cables for one of their AIOs in a Phanteks Shift XT case the way I wanted to to make it look neat. They didn't list that cable on their parts site, but I sent an email and figured the answer would be a no if I would be lucky enough to even receive a reply. I was surprised, they wrote back right away that they were trying to figure how to get one to be able to sell me and to stand by a day or two. Sure enough a day later they sent a paypal invoice second ext cable including shipping for less than I paid for coffee this morning at starbucks. It took a couple extra days as it had to come from their factory in china if recall, but I was impressed by their customer service team trying to find away to take care of a customer. based on my experience I'd bet that even if they don't list the fan on their site they would happily sell a customer another fan it it fails even if its out of warranty as long as the fan it was still in production and available to them.
The fan whine is unfortunately not uncommon in DeepCool fans. I've bought 2 of their products (a cheap air cooler and an 240mm AIO) and both of them had the same issue.
I love that your channel directly attributes credits to efforts
Yes it's $100, but you will never have to change it due to failing pump, or crusty liquid build up. They pretty much last forever.
Yep, my old Coolermaster Hyper 212 is over 13 years old and still runs perfectly to this day with the original fan, which is not something that I would expect many AIOs to be capable of.
Unless the fans die, then just swap that... :P Not as expensive.
I have mine coming today, see how it performs on the 7950x. Decent price £84.99 thanks for the review as usual
How does it perform?
I think we truly peaked air cooling capabilities now. I'd go AIO but I still fear AIO leaking and destroying my whole system.
My am3+ systen ive owned since 2016 still has the same aio i bought back then. Its starting to bubble a little bit but overall never had any problems with it. I went air cooling tho with my new build since the 7800x3d doesn't need a aio
Detail explained. Saw some other videos of it, yours one the best still I found.
$100 for a dual fan dual tower cooler is more than fine if it performs. I have never used water cooling and don't intend to as long as i can avoid it.
Love the new look set!
Dummy thicc air cooler reviews? Yes please!
Did you happen to test on 12th or 13th Gen i9 chips? I have a 12900k with the TG contact frame. The only thing that has been able to tame it is the Arctic Liquid freezer 420mm AIO. I have more in my case and cooling than is worth the performance. It’s been incredibly frustrating to own a cpu that out of the gate can’t reach its full potential without spending a crap ton of $$. I prefer the simplicity of air coolers and the DC620 did pretty well and I’d probably be OK with that as a solution as I’m not running R23 all day. Anyway, I love new tech and wanted to know if you all did any testing on some i9s. That would really let everyone know what this cooler can do.
Thanks for your hard work
Cheers
Rick
For that price, Deepcool should, at the very least, use thin steel instead of a plastic shroud.
I argue that would introduce rust, cutting fingers, and heavier cooler damaging motherboards risks.
@@AaronShenghao Is your GPU backplate made out of plastic?
@@4zims If it's not being used for cooling it might just as wel be.
You can't get the same seamless form-factor and built-in features (e.g. notches for the ratcheting adjustment) with thin steel
I'm in love with these high performance air coolers. Would difinitely love to see a review of the Cougar 135!
giga air cooler, idk seems really cool
Thanks for the review team! I'll look at this for upgrading my next build, excellent build by deepcool
Big PP air cooler
PP Max
This review only makes me more excited for the next gen Noctua D15 to see what it can do
"So you get a seven dollar ILM replacement kit with the cheaper cooler the thermal benefit starts to evaporate on this much more expensive option."
Maybe this was addressed, but what if you get a contact frame and this cooler? Would that lead to further improvement or is there a perfomance ceiling regarding how much heat an air cooler can get rid of?
Also, I'd love to see a review of the new Cooler Master MA824.
Had my eSports34 for years and years. Id highly recommend it.
As500 and ak400 dark zero are the 2 coolers I've used. I love deepcool. Aesthetic and good temps
I got an ak620 literally a day before this was announced 😢 still a really great cooler
As much as I like the looks I’m still going to go for noctua. Especially when they release the new 140 cooler
I'm not a fan of air coolers but if I were to buy one I would definitely allow myself to be overcharged for something I like the look of and I love how this cooler looks. I think they've done an amazing job at making something that looks stunning. I love it and thank you for such an in-depth review.
Not a "fan" eh..
I build all the CAD workstations and office PC's where I work. For anything with an i5 or i7 I had been using Cooler Master Hyper 212 (all the different models) but the price on the old reliable cooler had been going up not down and is usually around $60 CAD ($45 USD) However when 11th Gen and then Alder lake hit the scene on the high machines I was using DeepCool Assassin III because it was so much cheaper than the next competitor here in Canada at $99 ($75 USD). Then the AK400 came in at $29 CAD less than half of the CM 212, and the AK620 was only $60 CAD! it is incredible value (a third of the price of the comparable Noctua) the ease of installation also saves more in technician time. We have switched to using DeepCool for the foreseeable future.
Concerning the fan noise segment of the video, as an owner of multiple Noctua coolers and fan models, I can definitely confirm that it is true. Their fans never make any weird rattling, bearing grind, whine or other annoying noises. All you hear is wind noise.
I really hope that a potential😮 change in management staff in the future doesn't affect Noctua's commitment to build the best products with a very high level of attention to detail and awesome engineering.
I don't mind paying the higher price usually tied to Noctua products because I've been a customer with them long enough to know that I'll get an amazing product from a company that loves what they do and have an amazing customer support if you have any issues and for future sockets for their coolers.
Noctua is one of the computer products companies that I have the highest level of respect for.
Love the "SET A TIMER!" sticky note.
This was an excellent Peerless Assassin video and why it's is so goated
Thanks Steve!
Hardware Canucks noticed (probably) the same "whine" you encountered. They contacted DeepCool about it, and were told there were some defective units in the early run. DeepCool sent another unit to Hardware Canucks, and that unit didn't have the "whine" issue.
I belive noctua has a 140mm redux fan with 120mm mounts, their upcoming next gen 140mm fan also seems to be 140x140mm (a15 is 140x150mm) could work as replacements.
I got Assasin III and im happy about it. Much deeper than Noctua with the same perf
I knew there will be a cooler video soon when I opened a Cooler reviews playlist earlier today and it said it's "updated today" but there was no new video there and one was hidden 😁
anything non-noctua that performs better with stock configuration is a huge plus because it will likely perform even better with noctua fans
18:06 'we're ready for thermal paste' *shot cuts to cooler placement*
Love it, no more -
You did it wrong bro!?!?!, X vs 5 dots, vs blob vs schmear. Bypassed onto actual video topic. NICE 👍👍👍
Well, their overhauling of the overall look and feel worked. I have a deepcool cooler and a fractal case. And they're both pretty awesome.
I have the assassin 3 and a Corsair 5000D Airflow for the i7-12700K, the most silent desktop tower i ever built.
I've been using Noctua for 15+ years, I haven't found anything yet that will make me switch. My latest build is an Intel Xeon W7-2495X with Noctua NH-U14S-4677 and it cools awesome.
I'm a little late to the party, but despite not being in the market anymore with a recent upgrade, I still find these reviews immensely insightful. What does on in the industry can often be seen in these more small details.
I believe it was hardware Canucks review that mentioned their unit was unusually noisy. Turned out the unit was from a defective preproduction batch that was sent to some reviewers mistakenly.
They then requested another be sent from what customers would receive (and through those channels) and the problem was absent from that unit.
I am watching that video right now catching up on HC's videos and thought "oh, Steve just talked about this". Glad to see someone else mentioned it.
love the snap on vs painful clips. hope that becomes more the norm.
I did a test for a German test site and didn't watch this video before but I'm pretty much coming to a very similar solution. Yeah, it is a strong cooler with a unique look. No, it's not really offering that much more performance than DeepCool's own more affordable AK620, which is a bit more pleasant to listen to as well. For the three fan test I used a DeepCool FK120 (which can be bought seperately but I took the one from the AK620), which is pretty similar to the FC120 found on the AK400. I came to the same 1.5 - 2°C advantage with the additional fan. I didn't like the hex head of the screws either and even accidentally killed one of the heads trying to mount the FK120. Regular headed fan screws would have been better indeed and luckily most fans you buy actually come with screws you can use here unless you just grab "some random fan from the drawer", which is unlikely when buying such a rather expensive air cooler. The Assassin IV (just like the AK620) is pretty easy to mount as well - that's really rather similar to Noctua coolers, which is good.
I have to say I really like the recent DeepCool stuff and their overall quality seems to have improved quite a bit when compared to some of their parts from like 5+ years ago.
I used to be a fan (pun) of oversized tower coolers, back when motherboards were green ugly eyesores that you wanted to hide, liquid cooling was in its infancy and a huge risk of leaking.
Havent used one in a decade now and never miss it.
There's no denying that the Deepcool Assassin IV is one clean good looking cooler but and open fin design cooler vs a boxed up fin will always be more efficient at dissipating heat. I have my Montech Metal DT24 Premium only using the center fan for symmetry-look with the other 120 fan installed as a top intake case fan (Fractal North case) blowing directly onto the DT24. The top mounted intake case fan also aids to cool the VRMs. The top front 140mm case fan is also lined up to blow air straight to the cooler through a 4" diameter 140mm duct installed behind the fan for a more directed higher velocity air flow.
I really like the look of this cooler. It reminds me of a big industrial AC unit.
Mike's segment is so cool huge thumbs up give him a pat on the back.
Deepcool is amazing, using the LS720 myself and it's hell of a AIO.
It's important to highlight the kind of noise that gets put out. A lot of people that look at the NF A12 for example (in scrutiny) don't realize that its not just the low noise it puts out, but the type of noise it is. I won't say one fan's noise profile is better than another, but its clear Noctua placed very deep thought into the A12x25. When you look at the total package: noise type, decibel output, turbulence, or low RPM production... the A12 is great at all aspects. No longer "The Best", to people who look at raw data.