Deep Cool AK620 CPU Cooler Review > NAG

We’ve had many PC-building debates around the test bench about the benefits of all-in-one water coolers versus air coolers. For the most part, the science is simple: the thermal capacity of water is much higher compared to air. On the other hand, you have the aesthetics and practicalities that come with either option. In reality, both have their pros and cons and for the most part, I’ve seen gamers base their choices on aesthetics alone. Whichever one you choose, it is always best to choose a CPU cooler that can handle the thermal loads your CPU will produce in the environment it will operate. This could vary dramatically based on where your gaming PC is running. My studio is cool all year round, and I rarely see temperature fluctuations between winter and summer. Corollary, one of the old NAG offices, was a furnace in the summer that made CPU cooling a much more elaborate operation in those days.

Deepcool is a brand that has been around for decades and has a strong history in the business of computer peripherals. If you don’t recognise the logo, that is because it was refreshed a couple of years ago. Building on that heritage, Deepcool is again entering the South African market from a more strategic point of view, so they sent us a few products to look at.

The Deepcool AK620 is a standard-looking CPU cooler that features two 120mm fans to cool the two high-density fin stacks. There are also six copper heat pipes that transfer heat away from the copper base.

Unboxing the Deepcool AK620 I was impressed with the mounting mechanism for both Intel and AMD platforms. Unlike some AIO coolers I’ve installed, this one was a cinch. There’s a set of brackets and thumb screws for each platform, and mounting the brackets and cooler did not take long. You’ll also be relieved to hear that there is a tube of Deepcool heatsink paste included in the box.

Looking closer at the cooler itself, this is quite a hefty one and is one of the heaviest coolers on the market. But all that metal is a very good thing, and even before running any benchmarks, I have high hopes for what the AK620 can achieve in terms of thermal dissipation. Considering the size of this cooler, I was happy to find that there is around 47mm of height clearance around the base of this heatsink, ensuring that most types of RAM, no matter the size of the heatsinks, will have sufficient clearance.

The two fans included with the DeepCool AK620 are the FK120’s, a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) fan that can run at between 500 and 1,850 rpm – PWM fans generally run much quieter than other types.

Getting to the juicy benchmark part of the review, I first wanted to establish a baseline result that I could compare the results to.

For our benchmarks, we’re using our current test bench, which has an 11th gen Intel Core i7-11700K Processor. Incidentally, this machine already has an air cooler, so we can get numbers that fairly reflect any performance differences when we look at the results.

Running the test bench with a heavy CPU load using 3DMark’s CPU Benchmark, this CPU usually hovers around 65 degrees in terms of temperature under load. The same benchmarks with the Deepcool AK620 cooler installed dropped those temperatures by around 6 degrees — pretty impressive results, in my opinion.

Under load, the fans operate at very acceptable noise levels, too. Even when I needed to record audio, it did not pose any audio issues, even with the PC’s side panel open and placed on the desk.

As far as air coolers go, the Deepcool AK620 performed well for its price. Offering a bit of a retro look compared to the flashy all-in-one water coolers, the Deepcool AK620 will be a great upgrade for your old air-cooler or a cost-effective way to ensure your CPU runs cool in a new build.