DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 CPU Cooler Review

There are hundreds of aftermarket CPU coolers available on the market from an ever growing number of manufacturers. This means companies are having to differentiate their products from the competition, much like Be Quiet! with their extremely attractive Duo of CPU coolers. Today we are going to look at the Ice Matrix 400 CPU cooler from a company called DeepCool. We hadn't heard of DeepCool before receiving this product for review so we are interested to see how their products stack up against the big brands in the market like Be Quiet! and Cooler Master. Features Equipped with multiple clips to support Intel LGA1366/1155/1156/775 and AMD AM3/AM2+/AM2. 4 sintered powder heatpipes conduct heat from the processor quickly to protect it from overheating. Heatpipes are lined up in a straight line to improve air flow through the heatsink. Nickle plated copper base gives perfect contact with the CPU surface. Dense anodized aluminum fins with big surface dissipate heat efficiently. 120mm PWM fan with TPE cover fan frame to absorb operating vibration and noise maximumly. Intelligent side flow design further utilizes system airflow to improve computer case ventilation. The Ice Matrix 400 is supplied in a sizable white and blue box that is reasonably sturdy in construction. The front of the box features a plastic window which lets you see the heatsink itself within. On the sides and rear of the box we find a detailed breakdown of the features and specification of the cooler, accompanied by a large photo of the heatsink with the included fan attached. We find all the items we would expect in the bundle. There are mounting accessories for both AMD and Intel sockets alongside clips for the fan and a small tube of thermal paste. The DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 features a single stack of anodized aluminium fins which are located directly above the CPU block. These are arranged around four U-shaped heatpipes that pass through the CPU block at the bottom. The fins have ridges a pattern cut into them to infuse a little excitement into the design. It would seem that the common feature of DeepCool's range of products is the style of their fans. It features bright blue blades which sit within a black rubber frame that has been designed to reduce vibrations. The included fan is a PWM model which spins between 500 and 1500rpm. The company claim that at the maximum speed, the fan pushes through 66.3 CFM of air whilst only emitting 27.6 dBA of noise. At minimum speed, DeepCool say that the noise level is reduced to 17.8 dBA. DeepCool have given the copper CPU block a nickel plating with a mirror finish to help conduct heat from the CPU. For our testing today we are going to be using our AMD Phenom II X6 1090T CPU in conjunction with the latest Crosshair V Formula motherboard. So we will be documenting the installation procedure with an AMD system. First we are required to remove the stock AMD retention bracket and backplate from the motherboard, replacing it with the one that DeepCool provide and securing it in place using the provided spacer screws.. Then it's a simple matter of screwing on the retention brackets and locking the cooler down in place. This procedure is all documented in detail with the included leaflet. The final step is to attach the fan to the heatsink using the provided clips. DeepCool provide an extra set of clips for those who want to attach an additional fan in a push/pull configuration. Unlike many CPU coolers these days, the Ice Matrix 400 didn't cause any RAM clearance issues on our motherboard. Even though we used low profile memory, there is plenty of room for extended heatspreaders on all the memory modules. To test the DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 we used an Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard combined with an AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Processor. For our overclocked results, the CPU was clocked to 4.0 GHz using a baseclock of 200MHz, a multiplier of 20x and a core voltage of 1.45V. Test System Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula Memory: 4 GB (2x 2GB) Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3 1600MHz Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-3 Graphics Card: HIS Radeon 5550 Silence Chassis: NZXT Source 210 For our temperature tests we set both fans to maximum and loaded the system for 15 minutes using Prime 95. We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording temperatures. Room temperature was maintained at 22 degrees Celsius for the duration of the tests. The cooling performance is what we would expect at stock settings but when overclocked and under load, the CPU does get a little hot for our liking. We wouldn't want to be running this CPU overclocked with this temperature for an extended period of time. In our noise level tests we switched off all the case fans so we are just taking into account the noise generated by the cooler itself. The noise level was recorded with the Cooler at maximum speed. It was reasonably quiet at this speed, recording only 34.9 dBA on our noise level meter. While this is still audible, if you put the fan in PWM mode the noise level is much lower - below the 30 dBA minimum sensitivity level of our noise level meter. Overall, the DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 is a reasonably good CPU cooler. The black and blue fan design is sure to fit in well aesthetically with a lot of different setups, even though it doesn't co-ordinate well with the red and black design of the Crosshair V Formula motherboard we used for testing. We were a little concerned with the load CPU temperature when overclocked - ideally we wouldn't like to see the temperature on our AMD Phenom II X6 1090T processor reach much above 60c. With temperatures at this level, the long term longevity of the CPU could be affected. That said, if you didn't overclock the CPU by quite so much the temperatures would fall within an acceptable level. The DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 can be yours for £40 from Overclockers UK. At this price it comes into direct competition with the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Advanced that we looked at a few weeks back. We think that the Dark Rock Advanced is much more aesthetically pleasing than the Ice Matrix so will probably be a better option for those who care about the look of their system. The Ice Matrix 400 is still a good option however, especially for those who aren't looking to achieve a massive overclock. If they could drop the price by £10, it would be a more viable proposition. Pros: Unique Colour Scheme. Rubber fan surround. PWM fan included. Fastenings included for two fans. Cons: A little pricey. Not the best performer when pushed hard in an overclocked state. KitGuru says: A good product from DeepCool but would be more attractive with a lower price tag.

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DeepCool Ice Matrix 400 CPU Cooler Review

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