Overall, the Sharkhan APEX 240 is quite impressive to look at if you have a love for ARGB components. Granted, not everyone does, but those who do will be greeted by a cooler that will put on a nice light show and offers adequate if underwhelming performance. This looks over performance trend is the current status quo of the liquid cooler market and the APEX 240's biggest problem. Suffice it to say there is a lot more performance to be had from liquid coolers, and it is being given up in favor of flashy looks and LEDs. This isn't just an issue with the APEX 240 but, rather, one with many all-in-one liquid coolers as of late.

Looking specifically at cooling performance, the APEX 240 from Sharkhan falls towards the back of the pack where it trades blows with the ID-Cooling Zoomflow 240 and Dashflow 360. While performance is a bit disappointing, the APEX 240 is at least much quieter than both aforementioned competitors. That having been said, Sharkhan could easily improve performance with better fans. The current fans measure roughly 105 mm across on the inside of the frame compared to a typical fan, which is closer to 115 mm. Furthermore, due to the fan frame design, air escapes around the frame rather than being forced through the radiator, which further eroded performance.

To sate my curiosity, I did a quick test with two mixed 120 mm fans I had laying around and equalized them to the same RPM/noise output as the stock fans. I saw a 2°C drop in the FPU test with the CPU overclocked. This drop in temperature moves the APEX 240 into contention with the Cooler Master ML240P Mirage, Deepcool Captain 240, and many of the top-tier air coolers. To further check on the fan frame design and the escaping air, I made a gasket out of paper, which saw temperatures drop 1°C with the stock fans. It just goes to show how important it is to balance looks and performance in regards to the fans. With the current setup, Sharkhan could have used a slightly lower FPI radiator along with an affordable gasket to achieve better results. However, this would also result in a lower maximum TDP rating.

Build quality, on the other hand, was decent. In regards to the overall fit and finish I don't have a whole lot to complain about other than the missing double-sided tape on the backplate. That having been said, Sharkhan has corrected this issue already. As for the three-year warranty, I would say it is adequate and what I consider to be the minimum in today's market, and Sharkhan is still better than average here as the warranty they offer is actually longer than from some of the established mainstream brands.

In general, the Sharkhan APEX 240 is not a bad all-in-one liquid CPU cooler. The real problem for them is market saturation and the desire for more and more flashy ARGB LEDs to help it visually stand out. The end result is something that looks good but lacks cooling performance, which doesn't mean the Sharkhan APEX 240 is not a worthwhile product as it just needs more refinement before I can recommend it.