DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus – The golden middle way

Results – 39 dBA

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Key features of the cooler

At first glance, the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus (hereafter AK400 ZDP) will catch your eye with its interesting combination of simple design and modern details. The Zero Dark variant of the cooler features a matte black finish on the heatsink and heatpipes, which gives the cooler a fairly unassuming look. You will look in vain for any backlighting here, as the cooler is not equipped with a single LED. Despite its fairly compact size, the AK400 ZDP boasts a maximum TDP of 220 W, which is slightly above my usual test limits. So it will be important to see how this paper specification holds up under the real load of an overclocked processor with a thermal output of over 200 W.

The AK400 ZDP is designed as a symmetrical single tower cooler with two fans on each side of the aluminium fin bundle. The Plus attribute in the name refers to the second fan, as the basic version of the AK400 is equipped with only one fan. The fin bundle is intersected by four six-millimeter copper heatpipes. The middle pair of heatpipes also pass through the base with no gap between them, which should provide better heat dissipation from the center of the CPU heat spreader. Similar to the AK620, you’ll find a futuristic looking perforated cover on top of the cooler, complete with a subtle manufacturer logo. I rate the workmanship of this cooler as very good overall, there is nothing major to fault here.

On the base of the cooler you will find thermal paste applied from the factory in the pattern of a square matrix. So you don’t have to worry about the optimal application, the manufacturer has already solved this for you, which some users will surely be happy about. Unfortunately, however, you won’t find any additional tube of thermal paste in the package, so if you would like to fit the cooler in a different setup, you will have to buy new paste. Personally, I don’t really understand this approach of manufacturers and I constantly criticize it, but most users probably won’t mind it. After all, coolers are not hardware that changes too often, so this is only a minor shortcoming.

The cooler’s accessories are as minimalistic as its design. These include a universal mounting system for installing the cooler on current processor sockets including LGA 1700 and AM5 (excluding Threadripper processors). You will also find a fan splitter and clear installation instructions.

The installation of the cooler is very straightforward and simple and can be done by anyone. The AK400 ZDP uses a universal frame for both Intel and AMD processors. Simply select the appropriate set of screws and use the supplied robust metal backplate for Intel processors. Just be careful to choose the right posts for Intel processors, the posts for the LGA 1700 socket have a slightly different height from the posts for the LGA 115x/1200 socket. The screws for mounting the cooler on the mounting frame are equipped with springs for optimal pressure and overall the whole installation of the cooler is a matter of a moment. The design of the cooler is symmetrical, so you don’t have to think about the orientation of the cooler when installing it, just keep an eye on the correct airflow from the fans according to the small arrows on their sides.

Cooler and fan parameters

The AK400 ZDP has fairly standard dimensions and with a height of 155 millimetres it will be compatible with the vast majority of conventional cases on the market. The depth and width of the cooler are almost identical, so from the top the AK400 ZDP has an almost square profile. Physical compatibility with the DIMM slots on the motherboard poses no problem, the cooler only slightly overhangs the custom mounting system so you can use any size of RAM modules.

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Measurement methodology

As a test processor and heat generator, I am now using an Intel Core i7-11700K on the Asus TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi motherboard. The entire build is mounted on a Streacom BC1 frame with no fans to provide airflow. Acoustic shielding (acoustic foam on OSB boards) is installed around the test setup to eliminate ambient noise.

The Voltcraft SL-100 calibrated noise meter is placed perpendicular to the cooler in a fixed position relative to the motherboard at a distance of approximately 35 cm from the processor socket. Stress tests are performed using Prime95 with a duration of 30–35 minutes. The coolers are tested at three standardized noise levels (36, 39 and 42 dBA) and finally at maximum speed. The tests are run in two sets according to the heat output of the processor.

The first set of tests is at 125 W, the PL1 processor’s enforced limit. The second set of power draw is then about 205–210 W (4500 MHz at 1.285 V). However, this second level represents a very high concentration of heat per mm² due to the small size of the chip itself. Thus, not all coolers can be expected to pass this set of tests at all noise levels. At the end of the test, the highest temperature achieved is always recorded.

All data regarding CPU temperatures and heat output are obtained from the HWiNFO64 application. The measured values are then corrected against the room temperature as the resulting Delta T value. Any higher value means a processor temperature over 95–100 °C and a risk of thermal throttling. Therefore, if the cooler does not pass the load with a Delta T value below 75 °C, such a test is marked as a failure.

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Results – 36 dBA

As is becoming a good habit with me, if a single-tower cooler has two fans, I’ll run a second set of tests without the rear fan. In the charts, these tests are labeled as “AK400 ZDP (single fan)”.

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Results – 39 dBA

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Results – 42 dBA

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Results – maximum speed

At the end of this year I have prepared a review of the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. This is an interesting mid-range cooler with a modern design. The Zero Dark and Plus attributes refer to the black edition of the cooler and the second fan in the package respectively. I’m also quite interested to see how the AK400 Zero Dark Plus will fare against the Fera 5 and Fortis 5 coolers from Endorfy, with which it competes both in price and advertised TDP.

Conclusion and evaluation

I am overall very satisfied with the DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus cooler. The workmanship is of high quality, the visual design combines simplicity and modern look and the installation is very easy.

However, the most important parameter of any cooler is of course its effectiveness. The AK400 ZDP’s effectiveness is high enough without the sound of the fans tearing your ears off. While some may be bothered by the absence of any backlighting, this is a purely subjective matter for each user. Thus, the only real shortcoming I see is the absence of thermal paste, of course, apart from the one already applied to the base of the cooler from the factory.

DeepCool AK400 Zero Dark Plus can be without a doubt described as a good mid-range cooler at a good price. In the price/performance ratio, it competes strongly with its rivals and deservedly earns the editorial award “Approved“.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

• Contents
• Key features
• Measurement methodology
• Results – 36 dBA
• Results – 39 dBA
• Results – 42 dBA
• Results – maximum speed
• Conclusion and evaluation