Best Cheap CPU Coolers Benchmarked: Deepcool AK400 Review

The affordable Deepcool AK400 tower cooler is the next in a recent trend of cheap, high-performing CPU air coolers. If you're building a new gaming PC soon, our CPU cooler benchmarks will help you pick the best air cooler (or liquid cooler) for the job. The AK400 air cooler competes vs. the Vetroo V5, Thermalright's Assassin Spirit, and higher-end coolers like the Arctic Freezer 34 Esports.

Check out our Cooler Review Playlist to see full reviews of these coolers and more:



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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - DeepCool AK400 CPU Cooler
03:20 - Best Budget CPU Cooler Alternatives
04:26 - Mechanical Design
06:20 - Fan Design
08:13 - Dimensions & Case Compatibility
09:25 - Packing & Mounting Hardware
10:32 - Installation Process & Packaging
11:48 - Pressure Scanner Results
12:51 - Cold Plate Surface Flatness
13:52 - Thermals: 68W Noise-Normalized Benchmark
15:31 - Thermals: 68W 100% Fan Speed Test
16:32 - Thermals: 123W Noise-Normalized Benchmark
17:47 - Thermals: 123W 100% Fan Speed Test
18:48 - Conclusion & Best CPU Coolers

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Host, Test Lead, Writing: Steve Burke
Testing: Mike Gaglione
Writing: Michael Kerns
Additional Editing: Andrew Coleman

[GamersNexus]

Check out our Cooler Review Playlist to see full reviews of these coolers and more:

[thepolticalone]

'cheap but good' the best kind of cheap

[the_wau_]

I'd be interested in a revisit of the Hyper 212 to see how it stacks up vs more modern budget coolers :o

[nicholasgiobbi]

Compliments to Mike and his hard work on cooler reviews lately. Certainly not implying the rest of the team isn't good at what you guys do, but there's been a noticeable enhancement in the quality and rigor on cooler analysis.

[Jsteeeez]

deep cools recent coolers have been really great performers for the price.

[shibasss]

Please do some id-cooling coolers! They seem to be really good for the price, especially in some countries where not every brand is available and smaller price gaps are more significant

[wrenchviking]

I would be pretty interested in seeing how the ID-Cooling SE-214-XT holds up. For a $20 pricepoint, it seems to be in an interesting bracket for what it purports to offer. ID-Cooling has proven to be surprisingly competent with a lot of their other products, so it would be nice to see that continue.

[IRefuseToUseThisStupidFeature]

I would love to see some tests of the cooler designs in isolation of the fans.

Ex: Take one noctua A12X25 and mount it to each cooler, If it will take 2 fans try one then both. Once you have your benchmarks compare it to stock and see if swapping fans makes a significant difference.

Then we can see what cooler is best and put whatever fans we want on it to go with our build.

[Jayeeyee]

Every time I load up a new GN video, I first immediately lower my speakers & sub way down. That GN intro with the bass drop will literally blow my subwoofer up.

[boom]

I have the Arctic Freezer 34 running with a single fan on a Ryzen 3600. On that CPU you do not even need the second fan. Excellent cooler.

[OryxAU]

Good to see Deepcool on this channel. Love their latest products. I used to use the EK Waterblocks AIOs but Deepcool's Castle EXs were cheaper and look better imo. Didn't do any hardcore testing, but I'm happy with mine. The AS500 is really neat too, their flagship RGB air cooler currently.

[SamanthaVimes]

A bunch of friends are hoping for me to build them a sub $500 1080P gaming rigs so this kind of budget oriented stuff is so incredibly appreciated! Thanks for the amazing content.

[nrsca]

No issues. Fan still going strong. Cpu under heavy gaming load (3+ hours) never exceeds 61c.

And it was only like $35-40 then?

[linux]

I bought that assassin King like a month ago for about 30 dollars! I'm not surprised they bumped the price through. It's been working GREAT. Dropped like 15 degrees off the cpu in comparison to the stock cooler with my i5 7600. It's way quieter too

[themetallicabg]

Steve, it's great to see you reviewing products like the AK400 -- it's always great to watch a review from you, and especially on the more 'midrange' variations, if I can say so, as not everyone would be looking to build the highest end systems, or the lower end on that matter. Looking forward for more similar content, not necessarily coolers, of course.

[DailyCorvid]

always worth buying into your work, get yourself something nice :)

[thestarglider]

Deepcool is a really good and helpful company. I got their GAMMAXX L240 V2 AIO cooler a while ago for my Intel system. Worked like a charm. When I switched to an AMD AM4 system more recently I had lost the brackets to the cooler. I got in touch with them and they were fantastic. For a few dollars postage only from China they posted to me in the UK the brackets. Now that's service. Still very happy with the performance of their product.

[temporaltomato]

7:55 - Damn, a fan named "F***" sounds like exactly what my hotbox PC needs lol

[prjectSkyneT]

I'd like to suggest some coolers to be reviewed: ID-Cooling SE-224-XT, ID-Cooling SE-207-XT Advanced, Thermalright FS-140, Thermalright FC-140, and Thermalright PA-120.

[JustinSantiago]

AIR COOLING GANG, RISE UP! Where mah Noctuhomies?

Really digging the new place. Looks very clean and nice. Now back to you, Steve