Review on DEEP COOL GAMMAXX 400 V2 Blue CPU Air Cooler - 4 Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Blue LED - Intel/AMD-Compatible (AM4 Supported) by Arina Foliez ᠌

Name: DEEP COOL GAMMAXX 400 V2 Blue CPU Air Cooler - 4 Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Blue LED - Intel/AMD-Compatible (AM4 Supported)
Item: DEEP COOL GAMMAXX 400 V2 Blue CPU Air Cooler - 4 Heatpipes, 120mm PWM Fan, Blue LED - Intel/AMD-Compatible (AM4 Supported)
Rating: 3

November 28, 2022

The item is ok but not fully compliant with the description.

The bag with thermal paste is far from being completely filled and it is squeezed out with difficulty, but its contents were enough to smear both the processor and the base of the cooler. Maybe a couple of times would be enough.

The cooler was chosen to effectively cool the old Core i7-860 (4/8, Turbo Boost, TDP: 95 W, without overclocking), with an emphasis on silence and with the ability to install on something modern. Testing was conducted in a closed case (one fan per drive intake) at room temperature 25°C. The load was created using the Prime95 program (version 30.3b6 x64, Small FFTs, no AVX) for 15 minutes, followed by a system downtime of 10 minutes. The maximum and minimum temperatures of the hottest core were taken as the values.
The following results were obtained:
- At maximum fan speed, the processor temperature was in the range of 36-67 ° C;
– When automatically adjusting the speed by the motherboard (minimum speed, minimum increase threshold), the temperature was in the range of 42–72 °C.

Functionally, this cooler is similar to GAMMAXX GTE/GT V2, the only difference is the absence of visual bells and whistles. Most of the official images of the cooler are renders.
The fan is made of cheap plastic, rather rough. The backlight looks rather pale during daylight hours, partly due to the white fan blades.

Overall, I'd say the cons outweigh the pros. I was ready to put up with the low quality of production in general, but the reinforcement plate and the quality of the fan are beyond expectations.
You should take this cooler only if you are absolutely not ready to pay more, the rest is better to pass by.

Pros

All in all: + One of the best budget coolers in terms of performance and the cheapest of them. The closest worthy competitor (in 2022 stores) - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - costs ~ 1.5 times more; + Base with direct contact, one of the smoothest among all coolers, there are almost no gaps; + Does not overlap RAM slots; + The fan has anti-vibration pads (and for good reason.); + Pretty lightweight. Compared to the first version: + More reliable and tight mounting on Intel processors: reinforcing plate (backplate), brackets press on the base from above, adjustable clamping force; + Good minimum fan speed, quiet under moderate load.

Cons

All in all: - The suitability of the reinforcing plate to relieve the load is questionable even on motherboards for Intel processors: the bolts are inserted into the protrusions that lie on the motherboard and put pressure on it when the nuts are tightened; - On the edges of the radiator plates, bumpers are felt, their presence can lead to an additional increase in speed and noise level; - The manufacturer indicates that the fan is on a hydrodynamic bearing, but it is hard to believe in this, because it vibrates strongly even when it is untwisted by hand. Compared to the first version: – Reinforcement plate is plastic, when used with AMD processors, it can damage the motherboard; - The mount has no foolproofing. To ensure uniform clamping of the nuts, it is necessary to tighten them crosswise, counting the turns; – Actual heat dissipation has decreased (TDP less than 130 W): – Fan airflow decreased by ~13.2% (at higher speed), distance between heatsink fins increased from ~1.9 to ~2.1mm, airflow through heatsink decreased by ~11.6%; - The number of radiator fins has decreased from 50 to 46, taking into account the size of the fins, the radiator area has decreased by at least 2%; – There is no radiator in the base; - We would like to have a lower maximum fan speed (no more than 1500).