Deepcool Gamer Storm Captain 240 Liquid CPU Cooler Review

Deepcool’s Gamer Storm brings us a dual-120mm liquid cooler with enhanced style and reduced price, but can it still deliver the performance?

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

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Getting To Meet The Captain

The Captain 240 also adds AMD’s rectangular mounting pattern to its behind-the-motherboard support plate, where Swiftech’s pricier and more-configurable solution requires builders to use their motherboard’s original threaded support plate. While Swiftech’s solution is easier to use, Deepcool’s solution is preferable for those rare motherboards that have unthreaded support plates.

Like its most closely sized rival, the Captain 240 is equipped with a PWM fan hub. However, Deepcool’s hub supports only four fans, and lacking any auxiliary power input, it's limited to the output capacity of a single motherboard fan header.

The Captain 240 doesn’t include a tube of thermal compound, but instead ships with a sheet of the stuff pre-applied. Beneath it, the copper base is very flat and smooth, but not polished.

LGA-2011 (v3) users get a set of standoffs for mounting the Captain 240’s cooling head (the pump and water block combination), while everyone else gets a set of long screws to go with the board’s universal support plate. Both sets of hardware can be seen four photos above, and both sets use the same set of knurled nuts to complete the installation.

The entire pump cap lights up, shining through a clear tube of coolant. We expected to see a few bubbles flushed out upon first use, but those expected bubbles had already been evacuated to the radiator by the time we turned the system on.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mrmike_49
    Looks like they spread on the thermal paste with a trowel!!!!
    Reply
  • PDO
    Isn't that the way you are supposed to, or are you telling me that I've been doing wrong all this time.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    16036480 said:
    Looks like they spread on the thermal paste with a trowel!!!!
    The factory thermal paste? We didn't use it. We took a photo of it and scraped it off so that wouldn't be a factor in thermal measurement. All coolers are tested with Arctic MX-4 as an equalizer (it performs well and is re-useable when fresh).

    Reply
  • Blueberries
    I wish companies would stop branding radiators, memory, etc with "gamer" names. How stupid is that? It's not a keyboard, or a headset, or a video card, or a monitor, or... you get my point; the design of these items doesn't change, you always want the best thermal dissipation from a radiator. Calling it "sniper," "headshot," "nightvision," "dragons," is so tacky and unattractive, especially if it comes with an equally as tacky design or heatsink. If anything it turns me away from their product because I assume "Oh, this is in no way marketed towards professionals. We can get away with a shoddier product and nobody will notice!"
    Reply
  • SuperVeloce
    I think that those deepcool fans are the weak point here. Sure fans from DC looks and feels like a quality product to the touch (for the most part), performance and noise is subpar for a price I usually bought them for.
    Reply
  • ppalm
    Normally, I'm not one to care about looks, but that thing looks freakin' sweet when lit up sitting there on top of the CPU. I'm a low-profile black-case no-window kind of guy, so pragmatics win for me (Noctua) but this cooler makes the CPU look like a little reactor. Pretty snazzy.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    I really like the looks of the cooler itself. The clear pipe, on the block is a nice touch. Paired with some better fans, and this would be a great cooler, imo.
    Reply
  • BuffaloChuck
    I wish the author would tell us what the SOURCE of the noise is. Is it the fan blades (therefore anyone interested in swapping out fans can experiment) or is it the OKLAHOMA effect (wind comes sweeping the radiator blades - I think that's how the song goes).

    As for looks, I'd never give a hoot. Who spends time oohing and ahhing, getting physically 'excited' by computer parts?!! Sheesh..."Do something WITH the computer, don't just stare at it's purty lights."
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    16059116 said:
    I wish the author would tell us what the SOURCE of the noise is. Is it the fan blades (therefore anyone interested in swapping out fans can experiment) or is it the OKLAHOMA effect (wind comes sweeping the radiator blades - I think that's how the song goes).

    As for looks, I'd never give a hoot. Who spends time oohing and ahhing, getting physically 'excited' by computer parts?!! Sheesh..."Do something WITH the computer, don't just stare at it's purty lights."

    Umm many people care about looks. If they didn't we wouldn't have cases with side windows. It is no different than a person getting physically excited by the looks of a car.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    16059116 said:
    I wish the author would tell us what the SOURCE of the noise is. Is it the fan blades (therefore anyone interested in swapping out fans can experiment) or is it the OKLAHOMA effect (wind comes sweeping the radiator blades - I think that's how the song goes).

    As for looks, I'd never give a hoot. Who spends time oohing and ahhing, getting physically 'excited' by computer parts?!! Sheesh..."Do something WITH the computer, don't just stare at it's purty lights."
    It's a whizzing, not a whooshing, so the fans are definitely making a whiz. Better than taking one I suppose, given that it's hanging over a motherboard and graphics card.

    Reply