Page 4 - Conclusion
Did the DeepCool AK400 Digital keep its best qualities from the original while adding something new? Starting with its performance, the AK400 did an adequate job at cooling my AMD Ryzen 5600X CPU. Identical to the original DeepCool AK400, the latest version's thermals proved it was capable of competing with the ARCTIC Freezer A35 A-RGB and SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB. The cooler itself is solidly built. The darker color of the metal this time around looks nice, and lets the AK400 Digital stand out from its original in more than one way. The DeepCool AK400 Digital is reasonable in its weight as a single tower cooler. The digital display was neat, allowing users to see the temperature of their CPU at any time. The installation process was simple with no issues at any point in the process. I do wish the bags were labeled to more clearly separate the Intel and AMD tools. This is a minor criticism though, as the manual shows the specific tools to use for each compatible CPU socket. Its noise level remained subjectively acceptable in my opinion, although my colleague did find having a pair of identical FK120 fans in his AK620 Digital to be a bit loud. I wish it came with a tube of thermal paste, but this is a reasonable cost-saving measure for something of this price. Overall, the DeepCool AK400 Digital is a solid budget cooler with decent overall performance and solid build quality. At a retail price of $50, it is $15 more than the original AK400 at time of writing, which is a good chunk percentagewise, but it remains one of the more affordable coolers we have reviewed. For comparison, the DeepCool AK400 Digital is $10 more than the ARCTIC Freezer A35 A-RGB and $5 more than the SilverStone Hydrogon D120 ARGB, but neither of those feature a digital display. Even so, the DeepCool AK400 Digital provides a good option for those looking to build on a budget with some useful bling while also expecting good overall performance.
DeepCool provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 7.4/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The DeepCool AK400 Digital is a competitive budget CPU cooler that builds on the original, now with a built-in digital display for real-time CPU temperature readout.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware, Installation
3. Test Results
4. Conclusion
