Deepcool Zero Dark
Deepcool’s latest line of tower coolers (AK) kicked off a year ago with the twin-tower AK620, which was later gradually followed by the smaller AK400 and AK500 models. There are more of these “AK” coolers now and for those users who don’t like the grey fins, Deepcool has an alternative. The coolers with the Zero Dark designation will soon be available in a black coated version.
We’ve been introducing Deepcool AK coolers to you in news articles as they came out. On the occasion of the addition of “Zero Dark” variants, i.e. with black fins, we won’t go into more details and whoever would miss some of the details, will probably find it in the older articles on the AK620 or AK400. Of all the Deepcool AK coolers, only the latest AK500 is not covered by the Zero Dark design yet.
Deepcool AK620 Zero Dark is one of the most powerful coolers. Not only within Deepcool, but within CPU coolers in general. The claimed TDP is 260 W. This cooler consists of two massive towers and two 120mm FK120 fans with a speed range of 500–1850 rpm. The bearings used are fluid dynamic bearings (FDB). The total weight (passive + fans) is almost 1.5 kg (1456 g according to specifications).
For the more low-power processors with lower power draw, the AK400 Zero Dark and AK400 Zero Dark Plus coolers may be of interest. The difference between them is in the number of fans. The variant with “Plus” in the designation has two (also FK120), otherwise the design is the same. The fins are already stacked “only” within one tower, which makes these coolers narrower and does not collide with the memory modules next to the socket. This is not the case with the dual-fan variant (AK400 Zero Dark Plus) either. The latter is wider, but what extends into the space is the rear, the spacing of the DIMM slots from the front fan is the same.
AK400 Zero Dark (Plus) coolers have good compatibility. With 155 mm they are in fact among the lower ones and in the context with Mini-ITX systems Deepcool also points out the possibility of further lowering. This can be done by removing the top cover, without which the height of the coolers is 153 mm.
The TDP of the AK400 Zero Dark Plus is listed at 220 W. The single-fan variant will be slightly weaker, but not significantly so (TDP will be lower by maybe 10 W).
Aside from the different number of heatpipes used (the AK400 has four, the AK620 has six), different types of bases are used across the AK400 and AK620 coolers. While the AK620 has a full, finely convex block to which the heatpipes are soldered, the AK400s are “DTH”. That is, with a direct contact of the heatpipes, which are ground down. Note that the two – middle ones – are pushed close to each other, and the outermost ones are a little further apart, with some spacing. This could be especially advantageous for AMD Ryzen processors, which also have chiplets with cores more to the sides of the PCB.
All coolers use a solid mounting system with a metal backplate. Supported platforms besides AMD AM5 and Intel LGA 1700 are also AMD AM4 and Intel LGA 1200/155x.
The recommended price of the most powerful Deepcool AK620 Zero Dark cooler is set at 75 EUR, for AK400 Zero Dark Plus it is 45 EUR and AK400 Zero Dark again 40 EUR. Deepcool provides a three-year warranty on the coolers and they should be available in stores from November 2022.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš
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