Tom's Hardware Verdict
The Deepcool Gamer Storm Assassin III should be on every enthusiast and HEDT system builder’s colling short list. With seven copper heatpipes and twin 140mm cooling fans, it provides excellent thermal performance at a competitive price of $90.
Pros
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Excellent thermal performance
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Simple installation
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Sharp design, sans lighting
Cons
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Expensive for an air cooler
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Slightly higher noise levels than competitors
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With continued focus on high-end desktop (HEDT) and enthusiast CPUs, the battle of processor cores and overall performance supremacy between AMD and Intel is alive and well. But with higher core counts and clock speeds comes more heat generation with modern high-end chips--and there are always more promising, powerful slices of silicon on the horizon.
Enter Deepcool and its Assassin III. This big air cooler ships with a bountiful accessory set, including a long-reach magnetic screwdriver, syringe of thermal compound, spreading card, alcohol swab pad, PWM splitter cable, RPM reduction cables (x2), metal case badge and mounting hardware for most current AMD and Intel CPU sockets. The mounting hardware is nickel plated for a bright, chromed finish, which contrasts nicely with the blacked out color scheme from the fans and plastic accent pieces on the cooling tower.
Deepcool covers the Assassin III for 5 years under its heat pipe air cooler product warranty.
Specifications
| Height | 6.75" / 171.5mm |
|---|---|
| Width | 5.50" / 139.7mm |
| Depth | 5.25" / 133.4mm, (6.25" / 158.8mm w/fans) |
| Base Height | 1.50" / 38.1mm |
| Assy. Offset | Front (1.0" / 25.4mm w/fans) |
| Cooling Fans | (2) 140 x 25mm |
| Connectors | (2) 4-pin PWM |
| Weight | 42.7 oz / 1210g |
| Intel Sockets | 115x, 1366, 2011x, 2066 |
| AMD Sockets | FM2(+), FM1, AM2(+), AM3(+), AM4 |
| Warranty | 5 years |
| Web Price | $90 |
Features
Seven heatpipes account for the bulk of the cooling prowess of the Assassin III, each which are nickel plated and run the entire height of both cooling towers. The cooling fin stack provides enough density of fins to assure good heat displacement, while a partially vented side skirt to allows some air dissipation laterally, without negating the ducting effect of airflow through the structure.
The Assassin III uses a fixed torsion plate atop the cooling base, which is then affixed with tension screws to the mounting plate cross bars during installation. Having this torsion plate permanently attached smartly prevents misalignment of the large cooler as it is installed.
Airflow through the Assassin III is made possible by a pair of Deepcool GamerStorm TF-140S fans rated up to 1400 RPM (+/- 10%) at full speed. The fan blades have what resembles trailing-edge ducting arches on each blade while sporting a satin finish. Rubber isolation grommets adorn each corner around the mounting holes.
A pair of glossy black spoilers sit atop the cooler on each fin stack. These exist solely as decorative covers for the tips of the pinched and soldered heatpipes, but do provide aesthetic contrast to the polished nickel plating.
Both fans are installed to the cooling tower using wire spring clips; one fan moves air through the front of the first cooling tower, and another situated in the center moves air front-to-rear on the second tower. Only two sets of wire clips are shipped with the cooler, so those hoping to add a third fan at the rear of the cooler should be prepared to bring some DIY spirit.
The base of the Assassin III is made up of multiple pieces, where the collection of the seven heatpipes is sandwiched between the base mounting block and the base plate itself. This allows for the base plate to be machined precisely, while avoiding any milling issues and abnormalities from the heatpipes themselves, as would happen in a direct-contact arrangement.
The tension spring screws and torsion mounting bar are easily seen from this orientation, as are the partially ducted side fins along both cooling tower sides. The black plastic runner bars at the base of the cooler are mounting points for the black spoiler pieces covering the heatpipe tips. These spoilers have arms running down the front and rear faces of the cooler between fin cutouts, and are secured with small hex screws under the fin stack.
Installation of the Deep Cool Assassin III is relatively straightforward, and depending on whether your system will need to make use of the included backplate, the rest of the cooler mounting follows the same procedure. The transverse mounting bars support the base’s fixed torsion bar. Align these spring tension screws over the threaded holes and secure with the included screwdriver.
Fan installation only requires slipping the wire clips into the eyes of the rubberized mounting holes and clipping them around each side of the cooler heatpipe towers. The fan clips allow for vertical adjustment of the cooling fans. Although most memory DIMMs should have little issue with clearance, extreme fan height adjustment may result in diminished airflow over the lower cooling fins. So avoid RAM with tall heat spreaders if you want the best CPU cooling performance.
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