Final Thoughts
It seems I say this on every DeepCool review, but I really appreciate the attention to detail and sleek design language that DeepCool has adopted over the past couple of years. I feel like this is what sets them apart and let’s be honest for the most part air coolers are pretty boring to look at. But DeepCool has turned them into this sleek centerpiece in our system.
With these new Digital coolers they are taking that to the next level with a neat real-time digital display and RGB lighting. The digital display will show your CPU temperature and CPU usage in real time, which not only looks good, but also is quite useful. And again, the sleek way that DeepCool has implemented this across their CPU cooler line really shows they care about design and just didn’t slap a display on their coolers. Talking about the entire line you can get these coolers in both black (Zero Dark) and white Digital versions and their entire range of AK cooler have got the digital treatment. So there is an AK400 Digital, AK500S Digital, AK500 Digital, and AK620 Digital which we also took a look at.
The AK400 is the smallest cooler in the lineup so we are not expecting ground-breaking performance here. Just like the original AK400 WH the performance is towards the bottom of our test group, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I would say this is for sure a cooler for a mid-range CPU and not something like a Core i9 or Ryzen 9. Since the cooler is so small it is quite easy to install and you could totally install it with your motherboard mounted inside your case.
DeepCool’s AK series launched back in 2021 and the first evolution was the all white versions and then all black versions (Zero Dark) and now we have the Digital versions. This evolution of the AK series from DeepCool has been great to see and allows them to essentially extend the life of the cooler designs. Based on our reviews of the previous AK coolers these designs are solid, so its not like they needed to change anything.
If I were to complain about anything you do have three cables coming from the cooler (power, ARGB, USB 2.0) and that could be a cable mess for some. Also the real-time display only shows two metrics, which some may feel is limited.
The AK400 Digital has an MSRP of $49.99, which is a $10 premium over the original AK400. Keep in mind there are plenty of air coolers in that price range which do perform better, they just don’t look as good! Overall ThinkComputers gives the DeepCool AK400 Digital CPU Cooler a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Sleek real-time display & ARGB lighting
– Good performance for mid-range CPUs
– Easy installation
– Instructions easy to follow
– Available in both black and white versions
Cons:
– 3 cables coming off the cooler can get messy in some systems
– Display only shows two things
– Better performing CPU coolers available at the same price
