The DeepCool AK620 Digital CPU Cooler Review: Big, Heavy, and Lit
by E. Fylladitakis on March 28, 2024 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- Deepcool
- Cooler
- RGB
- CPU cooler
- Air Cooling
Testing Methodology
Although the testing of a cooler appears to be a simple task, that could not be much further from the truth. Proper thermal testing cannot be performed with a cooler mounted on a single chip, for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons include the instability of the thermal load and the inability to fully control and or monitor it, as well as the inaccuracy of the chip-integrated sensors. It is also impossible to compare results taken on different chips, let alone entirely different systems, which is a great problem when testing computer coolers, as the hardware changes every several months. Finally, testing a cooler on a typical system prevents the tester from assessing the most vital characteristic of a cooler, its absolute thermal resistance.
The absolute thermal resistance defines the absolute performance of a heatsink by indicating the temperature rise per unit of power, in our case in degrees Celsius per Watt (°C/W). In layman's terms, if the thermal resistance of a heatsink is known, the user can assess the highest possible temperature rise of a chip over ambient by simply multiplying the maximum thermal design power (TDP) rating of the chip with it. Extracting the absolute thermal resistance of a cooler however is no simple task, as the load has to be perfectly even, steady and variable, as the thermal resistance also varies depending on the magnitude of the thermal load. Therefore, even if it would be possible to assess the thermal resistance of a cooler while it is mounted on a working chip, it would not suffice, as a large change of the thermal load can yield much different results.
Appropriate thermal testing requires the creation of a proper testing station and the use of laboratory-grade equipment. Therefore, we created a thermal testing platform with a fully controllable thermal energy source that may be used to test any kind of cooler, regardless of its design and or compatibility. The thermal cartridge inside the core of our testing station can have its power adjusted between 60 W and 340 W, in 2 W increments (and it never throttles). Furthermore, monitoring and logging of the testing process via software minimizes the possibility of human errors during testing. A multifunction data acquisition module (DAQ) is responsible for the automatic or the manual control of the testing equipment, the acquisition of the ambient and the in-core temperatures via PT100 sensors, the logging of the test results and the mathematical extraction of performance figures.
Finally, as noise measurements are a bit tricky, their measurement is being performed manually. Fans can have significant variations in speed from their rated values, thus their actual speed during the thermal testing is being recorded via a laser tachometer. The fans (and pumps, when applicable) are being powered via an adjustable, fanless desktop DC power supply and noise measurements are being taken 1 meter away from the cooler, in a straight line ahead from its fan engine. At this point we should also note that the Decibel scale is logarithmic, which means that roughly every 3 dB(A) the sound pressure doubles. Therefore, the difference of sound pressure between 30 dB(A) and 60 dB(A) is not "twice as much" but nearly a thousand times greater. The table below should help you cross-reference our test results with real-life situations.
The noise floor of our recording equipment is 30.2-30.4 dB(A), which represents a medium-sized room without any active noise sources. All of our acoustic testing takes place during night hours, minimizing the possibility of external disruptions.
| <35dB(A) | Virtually inaudible |
| 35-38dB(A) | Very quiet (whisper-slight humming) |
| 38-40dB(A) | Quiet (relatively comfortable - humming) |
| 40-44dB(A) | Normal (humming noise, above comfortable for a large % of users) |
| 44-47dB(A)* | Loud* (strong aerodynamic noise) |
| 47-50dB(A) | Very loud (strong whining noise) |
| 50-54dB(A) | Extremely loud (painfully distracting for the vast majority of users) |
| >54dB(A) | Intolerable for home/office use, special applications only. |
*noise levels above this are not suggested for daily use
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PeachNCream - Saturday, March 30, 2024 - link
Check Tracfone's website. There are usually refurbished phones for under $30 USD. ReplyPeachNCream - Saturday, March 30, 2024 - link
On a whim, I just peeked in and you can purchase a new BLU View 4 for $30 USD. There is also a reconditioned Android for $15 USD. Specs are not particularly high end, but paired up with a bluetooth keyboard, you have essentially a full PC for less than the $80 (not $60) of this cooler and you can carry it with you as opposed to being chained to a desk someplace.Not sure why neither of you know this already or feel compelled to be hostile about it, but I'm glad to help share information even if someone is a bit grumpy. Reply
Samus - Friday, April 5, 2024 - link
Well, in that case, you can get used Noctua DH15's for $50 (less than half of new) ReplyDougMcC - Monday, April 1, 2024 - link
For a definition of 'fully functional' that does not include running any of the apps that a computer with a cooler like this is designed to run. ReplyPeachNCream - Tuesday, April 2, 2024 - link
Yes, programs are not identical, but net results are. Consider categorical classification of activities such as viewing a website, responding to e-mail, observing a video, being amused by a game, etc. Those things are all easily achieved with a phone and have been for a decade now. In fact, all of those could easily be performed on a PDA running Windows CE or Palm OS more than two decades ago. I used to use a Palm IIIxe with a folding keyboard for short trips in 2001. Admittedly, said Palm device was more expensive, especially when accounting for inflation, but if a 16 MHz CPU powered for a few weeks by two AAA batteries could do it 23 years ago, it would be silly to presume a modern budget smartphone cannot. It also calls into question why people would have considered a PC fully functional at various arbitrary points in history when they were far less powerful than a budget smartphone, but balk at that idea now. Consider a "gaming PC" in 2001 amusing its addicted owner endlessly with Everquest or Ultima Online maybe 128 or 256MB of RAM and a 200 to 400 MHz single core CPU - far less than what you can find on your wrist or in your pocket today. So no, your qualifiers simply don't hold any water.Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_IIIxe Reply
GeoffreyA - Tuesday, April 2, 2024 - link
I think we should be surprised how capable today's phones are. Most importantly, they've democratised computers. Twenty years ago, not everyone had a PC at home. Another point is internet access, which wasn't always universal. ReplyT.I.M.G90 on YT - Tuesday, April 2, 2024 - link
I've had one for a lil over two months now and I have to say it's super quite.My build:
LIANLI LANCOOL 216 ATX RGB,
ASUS PRIME Z790-V WIFI D5 ATX,
INTEL INTEL I9-12900K,
DEEPCOOL AKG620 DIGITAL,
2 SK HYNIX 2TB PLATINUM P41 NVME's,
G.SKILL 32G 2X D5 6000 C36,
ASUS DUAL RTX4070 O12G,
ASUS TUF 850W 80+G ATX3 PSU,
27" Sceptre 240Hz.
I went to the microcenter in Tustin to get the in store only bundle deal that consists of three parts of choice, a motherboard a cpu and memory, for either an Intel or amd build. I paid ONLY $400 for those three! I'm currently mining while gaming and I have to say my PC IS A BEAST! Reply
Shiggy Piggy - Tuesday, April 9, 2024 - link
I wouldn't be interested in it if it was only regular quite, but if it's super quite then I'm in. Of course, people will probably accuse me of being padentic, we'll see. I'm just trying to have a laugh. ReplyWelshBloke - Wednesday, April 3, 2024 - link
People are happy hanging 1.5kg off a MB that's a couple of mm thick? I'd be too nervous to ever move a PC with that in! Replyrealbabilu - Wednesday, April 3, 2024 - link
bought ak620 for i9 14k. oh boy. need help. very easy to 100 C. any thoughts for new cooler? Reply