DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK PLUS CPU Cooler Review

Installation

While the product manual for the DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK PLUS is certainly light on written details, it comes with plenty of diagrams to help you easily understand exactly what you’re supposed to do for all socket types.

In this regard though, Intel users should still pay careful attention as there is a different spacer offered which is exclusively for use with the LGA 1700 socket (Alder Lake/Raptor Lake). While this is noted in the manual as having a different shape, for those not paying attention, it would be very easy to miss this. Particularly given that although it is stamped on the spacers themselves, it’s not massively visible (reading glasses time for me!).

The DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK PLUS doesn’t come with any thermal compound in a tube but instead has it pre-applied to the contact plate. Although we remove this as part of our testing methodology, for those of you new to CPU cooler installation, this does at least remove the more nervous (and controversial) question of how much you use and how you should best apply it.

Mounting

While the installation method for the DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK PLUS does differ slightly from what some might be used to, the good news is that they haven’t attempted to reinvent the wheel here. This features a methodology which is both highly intuitive for the experienced hand while also being easy to understand for the beginner.

Overall, as long as you pay attention to the manual, it shouldn’t take you long to get this fitted.

Overall Thoughts

From out of the box and onto our test bench, the DeepCool AK400 ZERO DARK PLUS took us no longer than 10 minutes to install. – Overall, this is very easy to live with and particularly so thanks to the fan mounting clips which offer some solid levels of flexibility and good clasping points on the radiator itself.

Once in place, while it is a little chunky with those two fans attached, RAM compatibility presents no problem and you do, of course, have the option to install this any way up or around you like. – In terms of aesthetics though, while perhaps a little bland for some tastes, I rather like its understated and sleek nature. – I honestly couldn’t see this looking out of place within any kind of system build.

So, we’ve determined that it looks good, and is easy to install. All we have to find out now before we make our conclusions is how well it performs!