A Closer Look

The Deepcool Gamer Storm Assassin is a dual tower design, which is common among high-end air coolers these days. What makes it unique is the shark teeth fin design. Not only does it provide a unique look, but it also helps improve air conduction between fins.


The Gamer Storm Assassin is a massive heatsink. Each tower is comprised of fourty-nine aluminum fins which have been paired with eight 6 mm heatpipes. If none of this sounds revolutionary I don't blame you, but the execution of the final product is in many cases more important than its design. Deepcool decided to go for broke in terms of weight: This cooler weighs in at an impressive 1378 g. To put this into perspective, the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 weighs in at 1260 g with both fans while the Phanteks PH-TC14PE weighs in at 1250g with both fans. That's right, the Gamer Storm Assassin from Deepcool is the heaviest air cooler I have reviewed to date.


The eight 6 mm heatpipes are laid out in a straight, evenly spaced apart line. No solder appears to connect the heatpipes to the fins. How this will impact performance remains to be seen, but the base of the cooler and number of heatpipes are not well-optimized as even LGA2011 processors will not make full contact with all heatpipes. This becomes far more troublesome with CPUs that have a smaller IHS, like Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell etc.


The heatsink's base has also received a great deal of attention, with Deepcool presenting a mirror finished and solid copper base, which is always a pleasure to see.


Deepcool provided the UF140 and UF120 fans for the Gamer Storm Assassin. The 140 mm fan is PWM and spins at 700-1400 RPM while the 120 mm fan spins at a fixed RPM of 1200. This does not make much sense as providing two PWM fans would definitely lower noise output. The fans have a TPE de-vibration coating and are certainly nice to look at. The shiny Assassin logo on each adds a bit of flair, while the fully sleeved cables offer that clean, professional look. The small grooves on the 140 mm fan will also help improve airflow. The UF120 unfortunately does not have the grooves. The Gamer Storm Assassin seems to be a hit and miss affair so far, but what really matters is performance, so lets get this hunk of metal installed.