Deepcool Assassin II
Deepcool Assassin II is the biggest, baddest and most extreme cooler in this round-up and was £69.99 at the time of testing. It weighs in a shade under 1.5kg and stands 167mm tall. This imposing height is due to the 140mm fan located in between the two towers of the cooler and to add to the cooling potential there is a second fan on the outside of tower which is 120mm.
The cooler arrived in a funky matt black package with metallic green printing and foam inserts to protect the cooler in transit. Despite these precautions the two towers of our cooler lean towards each other in a manner that presumably was not intended by the factory and while there was still plenty of room for the central fan it didn't really look correct.
The two fan cables are quite long so there is scope to tuck them away neatly or to hook them up to convenient fan headers but you also get a PWM hub in the package as an accessory so you have plenty of options.
Installing the cooler isn't quite as straightforward as we might like. The basics are good, so the four mounting studs are retained in the back plate with rubber caps that prevent components from dropping out of place during installation. The tricky part is that you need a long thin screwdriver that can reach the two mounting screws located between the two finned bodies.
When the Assassin II is running the two rubberised Deepcool GF fans are impressively quiet.
Specification
Intel LGA115x support | Yes |
Intel LGA1366 support | Yes |
Intel LGA2011 support | Yes |
Intel LGA775 support | Yes |
AMD AMx/FMx support | Yes |
TDP rating | 220W |
Base of cooler | Copper |
Heat sink | Split aluminium tower |
Heatpipes | 8 x 6mm heatpipes |
Supplied fans | Deepcool GF 1x 140mm, 1x 120mm |
PWM | Yes |
Fan speed | 300rpm-1,400rpm |
Fan bearings | Dual FDB |
Air flow | 70cfm |
Noise levels | 17.8dBA-27.3dBA |
Dimensions | 167mm (H) x 143mm (W) x 158mm (D) |
Weight | 1479g |
Warranty | Three years |
Product Shots
Testing
Assassin II is the best performer in the round-up however the temperature figures were only slightly lower than the much cheaper Phanteks PH-TC12DX. Where the Assassin II scores especially highly is that the fans operate at a low speed and are very quiet. No doubt the array of eight heat pipes plays a significant part. We never saw the Deepcool fans operate above 1,200rpm even though they have a maximum speed of 1,400rpm.
KitGuru Says: An epic cooler that is big, heavy, quiet and expensive however it is overkill for most people.
KG, how could you not include the Noctua D15 in this roundup? Commonly known to be the best performer of the moment….
This..
It wasnt missed, this isnt meant to be a roundup of every high end cooler, many of which we have already reviewed. This is a look at an unusual selection of coolers that most people have missed. Its a little ‘off beat’ intentionally.
Yes, but more to the point it could have been used as a baseline to compare others relative performance 🙂
I’m happy not to have the D15 in as it’s price is very much a barrier to using it (as well as the weight!) – it’s good to see focus on other makes such as Cryorig.
Not a valid test of anything without a Noctua NH D15 at least as a baseline.