Deepcool GamerStorm Captain 360 AIO: Does Size Matter?
Test System and Benchmark Results of the GamerStorm Captain 360
Ambient temperature monitored at case intake and temperature Delta was used. All case and heat sink fans were benchmarked with fan control settings disabled and running at 100% unless otherwise specified. Intel integrated video is utilized to eliminate additional ambient heat source from discrete graphics cards. Temperatures are averaged (last minute) from individual core temperature results monitored by AIDA64 after 15 minutes. FPU load average is used to simulate worst case scenario load levels similar to Intel Burn Test or OCCT, results marked “0″ means thermal limit was reached and the CPU was throttled and thus the results were discarded. Stock settings have all power saving features enabled in the motherboard with Vcore set static to 1.1V and set to “Balanced” in the OS. Overclocked settings have Vcore voltage manually set to 1.2V at 4.2GHz and 4.4GHz with EIST disabled. All tests were taken at least three times to get the final result.
| Processor | Intel Core i7-4770K (Retail) |
| Motherboard | ASUS Maximus VI Gene Z87 Motherboard |
| Memory | Mushkin Stealth DDR3 |
| Drive | OCZ Agility 4 256GB SSD |
| Video Card | Intel Integrated Graphics |
| Thermal Compound | Noctua NT-H1 |
| Case | DimasTech Mini v1 (modded for 360 radiator support) |
| Power Supply | Corsair HX850W |
| Operating System | Windows 7 x64 Pro |
| Comparison Heatsinks | Noctua NH-U14S + NF-A15 Fan |
Phanteks TC14PE |
Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 3 | Noctua NH-D15 | Noctua NH-D14 | Cooler Master Nepton 140XL |
| Fan Size (mm) | 140mm x 2 |
140mm x 2 | 135 and 120mm | 140mm x 2 | 140 and 120mm | 140mm x 2 |
| Max fan RPM | 1500 and 1200 RPM |
1200 | 2100 and 1500 | 1500 | 1200 and 1300 | 2000 |
| PWM | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| Fan Bearing Type | SSO2 | UFB | FDB | SSO2 | SSO2 | Rifle |
| SLIM | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | – |
| Direct-Heatpipe | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO | – |
| Heatpipe Thickness (mm) | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | – |
| Heatpipe Count | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | – |
| Radiator Size |
– | – | – | – | – | 171 x 139 x 38mm |
| Radiator Material |
– | – | – | – | – | Aluminum |
| Price (in USD) at the time of review |
75.99 + 30.99 |
99.99 | 89.90 | 99.99 | 84.99 | 99.99 |
Benchmarks:
Results marked “0″ means thermal limit was reached and the CPU was throttled
Sound Profile:
These fans are incredible, at 1000RPM they are extremely quiet and it is actually easier to hear the pump rather than fans. Up to 1500 RPM, the fans have very tolerable noise levels but at 2200 RPM, the fan noise sharply increases. During PWM operation however, the fans move smoothly from each fan level without introducing any weird high pitched noises at higher RPMs or chopping noises at lower RPMs.
Performance Summary:
Although out performing the Noctua NH-D14 slightly, better performance was expected since it is a 360mm radiator. Even at 4.2GHz OC, the Deepcool GamerStorm Captain 360 was unable to hold-off the heat and the CPU throttled within 3 seconds of FPU-only load. Although the Captain 360 has a large area radiator, the actual thickness of the fin array is only around 18mm from the side because of the 7mm gap on each side. The fans themselves are quite excellent and doubts of their contribution to the performance was neutralized when CM JetFlo fans were placed on the radiator as a test to see how it would fare. Even at only 1500 RPM, the fans show respectable performance.
